UP civic polls: About 49 per cent voting recorded in second phase

Lucknow: A polling percentage of 48.65 per cent was recorded in second phase of Uttar Pradesh civic polls, where as many as 1.29 crore voters were scheduled to exercise their right to vote across 25 districts on Sunday.

A total of 35.01 per cent voting was recorded in Lucknow Nagar Nigam elections till 1700 hours.

District-wise polling percentage in Nagar Nigam elections:

Lucknow: 37.57 per cent

Allahabad: 34.20 per cent

Ghaziabad: 46.90 per cent

Aligarh: 51.41 per cent

Mathura: 46.88 per cent

Varanasi: 44.39 per cent

Some other figures:

• Total Urban Bodies: 189
• Total Wards: 3,601
• Polling Booths: 4,063
• Polling Places: 13,777
• Voters: 1.29 crore
• Male Voters: 53.76 per cent
• Female Voters: 46.32 per cent
• Number of Polling Personnel: 61,484

Divulging the figures, state Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said, "Lucknow has always been most buzzed about civic polls, but unfortunately, people do not wish to come out of their houses to cast their vote for the welfare of the local bodies."

"The condition of the urban bodies has not improved over the years. This year, 32.2 per cent voting has been recorded in Lucknow, which is 0.1 per cent lesser than 2012. The overall voting percentage has also improved slightly from 43.67 per cent to around 52 per cent, which is not commendable," he added.

"Allahabad and Aligarh have also generated similar results which is very unfortunate. Varanasi has shown some signs of improvement this time. The voting pattern of the electorate suggests that the interest in democracy increases proportionately to increasing distance from the cities," said Agarwal.

What else he said?

• We replaced the non-functioning machines within 20-30 minutes of problem being reported.
• The voting was not halted due to technical issues at any of the booths.
• It is obvious to miss some of the names in the voting list in such a huge state like Uttar Pradesh.
• While preparing the voters' list, there were several names who have residence in village as well as cities.
• But according to the set norms, a person can vote where he or she is living presently.
• We have eliminated 80.59 lakh names from the voters' list.
• I accept that some names were missed out, but we had uploaded the final list on our official website a week before and we have also added the names of some people who complaint of their names being missing from the list.
• Negligence was reported in slip distribution in Lucknow. We had talked to the District Magistrate over the same.
• The people who did not receive the voting slips at their residence could have downloaded it from our website.
• No violence or major issues were reported across the state.
• The reports of firing in Shahjahanpur are completely baseless.
• Two people have been arrested in Bhadohi and Varanasi for trying to cast vote with forged Aadhaar card.
• The officials in Mainpuri are yet to ascertain that whether it was fire shots or firecrackers. But they have assured to take stringent action against the culprits by tomorrow.
• I am not interested in answering to the rumours doing the rounds over social media platforms or what the political parties are alleging, till they do not come to us with any proof to justify their allegation.

Earlier in the day, some top political names like Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and other UP ministers including Pankaj Singh, Mohsin Raza and Swati Singh casted their votes early morning.

BJP Mayor candidate Sanyukta Bhatia also voted and afterwards went to the polling booths to check out the arrangements and smooth process of voting.

The state election commission (SEC) had made tight security arrangements before the big show. Campaigning in the crucial second phase of elections to urban local bodies in Uttar Pradesh ended on Friday evening in 25 districts.

Lucknow Mayor candidate Sanyukta Bhatiya offers prayers before casting her vote

Six municipal corporations (nagar nigams) -- Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Aligarh and Mathura -- are among the total 189 urban local bodies (ULBs) that went to polls in the second phase.

In the first phase of polling held on Wednesday, 52.59 per cent of the voters exercised their right to franchise in 24 districts, including five mayoral seats.

Uttar Pradesh minister Mohsin Raza casts his vote

It is worth mentioning here that civic polls are held for nagar nigams, nagar palika parishad and nagar panchayats (semi-urban bodies).

Also read: Surprise: BJP takes refuge in Lord Ram for Civic polls in UP

The polling in in nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats is being held via ballot paper while in all the 16 nagar nigams SEC is making use of electronic voting machines.

The last phase will be held on November 29. Counting of votes would be done on December 1.

Check out more pictures in slides ahead: