An estimated 53 per cent of the total 1.95 crore voters exercised their franchise in the polling for 14 seats of the Western and Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh in the fifth and final phase of Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday.
Pilibhit, where BJP's Varun Gandhi is in the fray, recorded the maximum turnout of 64.5 per cent followed by 60.8 percent in Saharanpur.
The turnout was 56.9 percent, 55 per cent and 54 percent in Amroha, Dhuarahra and Rampur respectively.
The State Chief Electoral Officer Anuj Bishnoi said that the polling percentage in the final phase was more than the last four phases and that the final tally could cross 55 per cent. Bishnoi said that apart from complaints of malfunctions in certain EVMs during the early hours of polling, the exercise had passed off peacefully.Headded that 35 EVMs were replaced while 75 such complaints turned out to be false alarms. The phase also witnessed a poll boycott in four booths of the Rampur seat and 6 in the Shahjahanpur seat in protest against lack of development in the area.
While the initial pace of polling was slow and only 16 per cent turnout was recorded till 11, the turnout pickedupbriskly after that to reach 52.7 per cent at 5 pm.
The lowest turnout was recorded at Aonla with 47 per cent while Badaun recorded 48 per cent. The turnout in the other constituencies was: Bijnore- 52 per cent, Nagina - 50 per cent, Moradabad-50.5 per cent, Sambhal-48 per cent, Shahjahanpur-47.8 per cent, Bareilly-50 per cent and Kheri-53.3 per cent.
The last four phases for the 66 Lok Sabha seats recorded a 46 to 48 per cent turnout. The turnout in these 14 constituencies in 2004 was 54.3 per cent while it was 51.7 per cent in the 2007 Assembly polls.
Source: The Indian Express UP 53% TURNOUT UP records highest polling in last phase
