Despite incessant rains and inclement weather, Uttar Pradesh recorded 62-64 per cent polling in the first phase of the crucial Assembly elections on Wednesday, when votes were cast in 55 seats across 10 districts for the 403-member House.
The stakes are very high for all four major players — the ruling BSP, Samajwadi Party, Congress and BJP. This is the highest voter turnout in the state since Independence.
The first phase was “perfectly peaceful”, with virtually no complaints, and the Election Commission was quick to claim credit for the rise in voting percentage, saying it was due to the EC’s voter awareness campaign. Deputy election commissioner Alok Shukla said: “The polling in the first phase is at least 33 per cent higher than the overall turnout in the previous Assembly polls in 2007, which recorded a total 46.6 per cent turnout”.
Briefing reporters, state chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha said in Lucknow that if weather conditions had been normal, the turnout would have exceeded 70 per cent.
The maximum turnout was recorded in Sitapur (65 per cent) and the lowest in Balrampur (58 per cent).
Polling was held in the districts of Sitapur, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddhartha Nagar and Basti. The fate of 862 candidates, including 796 men, 65 women and one eunuch, was sealed in the first phase.
In the first phase, the stakes are high for the BSP, which won 30 seats in this phase in 2007, and the Samajwadi Party, which won 18 seats. The BSP must not only retain its tally but also improve upon it if it hopes to return to power.