Around 57 pc votes polled in UP’s fifth phase

Lucknow, Feb 27 (UNI) Around 57.13 per cent votes were polled out of 2.25 crore votes for 61 seats spread over 12 districts in the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Sunday. It is 1.11 per cent less as compared to 2017 when total turnout was 58.24 per cent. With this electoral fate of 693 candidates, including 90 women, has been sealed in the EVMs. As per the data provided by the Election Commission Barabanki district recorded maximum voter turnout of 66.94 per cent, whereas Pratapgarh saw minimum voter turnout of 52.65 per cent. Among other districts 55.86 per cent votes were polled in Amethi, 59.49 per cent in Ayodhya, 57.07 per cent in Bahraich, 61.34 per cent in Chitrakoot, 56.03 per cent in Gonda, 59.56 per cent in Kaushambi, 53.77 per cent in Prayagraj, 56.6 per cent in Rae Bareli, 57.24 per cent in Shrawasti and 56.42 per cent in

Sultanpur. Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said that polling for the fifth phase passed off peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere. He said that a total of 377 cases of violation of the model code of conduct were registered and legal action was being taken in them. “Besides 549 complaints were received from the public on c-Vigil App of which 293 were found to be true and action was taken on them,” he said. Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Gulshan Yadav was allegedly attacked in the super sensitive Kunda assembly segment in Pratapgarh district. It was reported vehicles in which the SP candidate and his supporters were travelling were vandalized. There were also reports of stone pelting and firing. In Kunda SP’s Gulshan Yadav is up against local heavy weight Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya who is contesting on a Jansatta Party ticket. Yadav was once his close confidant. Raja Bhaiyya is a sitting 6-time independent MLA from Kunda since 1993. SP in its complaint to ECI claimed that their candidate from Kunda Gulshan Yadav has been attacked. Their cars have been damaged. Some 50 people pelted stones while three rounds were also fired on them. Police confirmed the clash saying no one was critically injured in the incident. In Prayag Raj, a 21-year-old youth was killed and another injured in an explosion in Kareli area, but Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Kumar said that the incident was not related to the poll process. He said that the incident occurred when a bag which the two youths were carrying fell on the ground and an explosion took place. The prestige of six ministers in the Yogi government including Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was at stake in this phase. Maurya was contesting from Sirathu seat in Kaushambi district and SP had pitched Pallavi Patel against him. Pallavi is the estranged sister of Union Minister Anupriya Patel, an ally of

BJP. Other than Maurya, cabinet minister Rajendra Pratap Singh was contesting from Patti seat in Pratapgarh district. Cabinet minister and grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Siddharth Nath Singh was contesting from Allahabad West. Civil Aviation Minister Nand Gopal ‘Nandi’ was also contesting from Allahabad South Seat. Social Welfare Minister Ramapati Shastri was contesting from Mankapur seat and Minister of State Chandrika Prasad Upadhyaya from Chitrakoot Sadar.