Live Polling begins in U.P., Uttarakhand

7% POLLING IN UTTARAKHAND

Polling begins on a slow start due to low temperatures across the State. By the end of the first hour, the poll percentage remained under 7%.

In the first hour the lowest turnout – 3% – was witnessed in Champawat, and the highest turnout of 7% was witnessed in the districts including Almora and Udham Singh Nagar.

RAWAT TO OFFER PRAYERS

Chief Minister Harish Rawat will offer prayers before casting his vote, today. Mr Rawat is contesting from two seats – Haridwar Rural in Haridwar district, and Kichha in Udham Singh Nagar district.

While the Chief Minister hails from the Kumaon hills, he chose to contest the plain seats. By his own admission, Mr. Rawat chose the seats to attract votes for the Congress in the 11 seats in Haridwar district and in the nine seats in Udham Singh Nagar district.

UTTARAKHAND

About 74 lakh electors will cast votes for 628 candidates today. The polls will be conducted on 69 of the 70 seats, since the polls on the Karnaprayag seat have been postponed to March 9.

While there are 10,685 poll booths across the State, 458 booths have been set up in snow covered regions where, the difficult terrain makes the setting up of a poll booth a challenge for the election commission teams.

In the absence of any third forces the main contest is between the Congress and the BJP. However, the BSP is a challenge, especially for the Congress, in the 20 seats of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

PHASE 2 IN U.P.

Polling began this morning in 67 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts of western Uttar Pradesh figuring in the second phase of voting.

The districts where polling is on amid tight security arrangements are Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.

14,771 polling centres and 23,693 polling stations have been set up in the districts of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun and elaborate security arrangements made to ensure free amd fair polling, election officials said.

The campaign ended on Monday evening for the 67 constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh, where voting will be held on Wednesday. The districts going to the polls in this phase include Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.

BSP had bagged 18 seats last time, BJP 10, Congress three and others two.

Prominent contestants

Prominent contestants include controversial SP minister Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam, who are contesting from Rampur and Swar seats respectively, Saif Ali Naqvi, son of former Congress MP Zafar Ali Naqvi, former central Minister Jitin Prasada from Tilhar (Shahjahanpur), BJP Legislature Party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna from Shahjahanpur city and State Minister Mehboob Ali from Amroha.


Read us at:
http://www.thehindu.com/elections/Live-Assembly-Elections-2017-Uttar-Pradesh-phase-2-Uttarakhand-polling/article17304474.ece