New Delhi: The sixth and penultimate phase of UP Assembly polls on Thursday witnessed 45 per cent voter turnout in an election that ended peacefully amid tight security.
This phase of polls covered 52 constituencies, including the Naxal-infested Sonebhadra and Chandauli belts, and according to Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan the elections were "very peaceful without any incident." Voting in the bypolls for the Robertsganj and Mirzapur Parliamentary constituencies was also held along with the Assembly polls.
The fate of 705 candidates, including state minister Ujjwal Raman Singh, BJP state chief Kesri Nath Tripathi and All India Mahila Congress President Reeta Bahuguna Joshi were decided in Thursday's polling in districts that included Allahabad, Varanasi and naxalite-infested Sonebhadra and Chandauli districts.
Barring a few complaints of defects in EVMs and irregularities in electoral rolls, the polling was smooth, Balakrishnan said. In the two naxalite-infested Chakia assembly seat in Chandauli, polling was brisk at 48 per cent while it was 46 per cent in Sonebhadra districts.
Special security arrangements were made in naxalite-infested areas. A police constable, who came to a polling station with a pistol, and a poll officer, who was found to be allowing a person without valid document to vote, and the voter were arrested in Ghazipur.
Balakrishnan said that in 2002 elections, as many as 35 incidents of violence had been reported from the Naxal belt, which saw repolling in 37 polling stations. There were no such incidents this time.
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