Lucknow: In the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, voting took place in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies located in 21 districts of UP. This included the state capital Lucknow. During this, an average of 57.98 percent people exercised their franchise. In this crucial phase of elections, the fate of 140 candidates including Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), former Congress President Rahul Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Union Minister Smriti Irani (Amethi) got captured in EVMs.
A total of 10 candidates are in the fray for the Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency. There are 21,72,171 voters in this Lok Sabha constituency, of which 11,48,119 are men, 10,23,960 are women and 92 are third gender. The number of polling stations is 1895. In the district, Rajnath Singh and Kaushal Kishore are BJP candidates from Lucknow and Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha seats respectively. While Samajwadi Party has made Ravidas Mehrotra and RK Chaudhary its candidates. Voting for the assembly by-election was also held side by side. In the by-election, BJP has made OP Srivastava its candidate from Lucknow East seat.
State Chief Election Officer Navdeep Rinwa said that the voting was conducted peacefully amid tight security arrangements. The constituencies of the fifth phase are 21 districts Lucknow, Sitapur, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Sultanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Chitrakoot, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Gonda, Bahraich, Balrampur. Apart from this, votes were cast for Lucknow East Assembly by-election.
He said on the basis of information received from districts till 6 pm on polling day evening, the total average voting percentage was 57.98 percent. In which Mohanlalganj (SC) 62.72, Lucknow 52.23, Raebareli 58.04, Amethi 54.40, Jalaun (SC) 56.15, Jhansi 63.70, Hamirpur 60.56, Banda 59.64, Fatehpur 57.05, Kaushambi (SC) 52.79, Barabanki (SC) 67.10, Faizabad 59.10, Kaiserganj 55.68 and Gonda 51.64 percent voting has been reported. Whereas in Lucknow East Assembly, 52.45 percent voting took place.
Webcasting was arranged at 14,984 polling stations to keep the voting process free and fair. Apart from this, videography was also arranged at 4,199 polling stations. Complaints were received during the voting, which were resolved in time by the district officials. Sufficient paramilitary forces were deployed to conduct the elections peacefully. The responsibility of protecting the strong room of EVMs has also been given to the paramilitary forces.
With mercury crossing the unbearable mark, many booths in Lucknow wore a deserted look. Voters in Lucknow urban areas lacked enthusiasm for voting. There was less footfall at the Aadarsh booths in Lucknow, on a day when the temperature in Lucknow was above 44 degrees. As per official records, Lucknow has the lowest turnout among the 14 Lok Sabha seats.
In a unique gesture, Lucknow DM Surya Pal Gangwar cast his vote, took an elderly voter to the booth in a wheel chair. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati cast her vote at Municipal Nursery School Mall Avenue in Lucknow. After casting her vote, the BSP supremo said that voting is very important to strengthen democracy.
UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, “The first four phases of the Lok Sabha elections have been wonderful. From the BJP’s point of view, we have won more than 270 seats. In the fifth phase of the election, I see one-sided support for the BJP, especially in 14 seats of UP including Rae Bareli.
100% voting at the village booth
100% voting has taken place at a booth in a village in Lalitpur. There were only 357 votes in that booth. According to the BLO report, one voter was in Bengaluru. Lalitpur DM arranged a flight ticket for that voter from Bengaluru to Bhopal worth Rs 18,000. The last voter was brought to that booth by a government vehicle from Bhopal and after casting his vote at 1 o’clock, the voting was declared complete. The DM bore the flight fare.
