High voter turnout in last phase amid clashes in West Bengal, drama in Varanasi
Lucknow/Patna/Kolkata: One of the longest-ever Lok Sabha elections, also one of the most bitterly fought in recent memory, will come to an end today as polling is held in 41 constituencies across three states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The ninth and final phase will be critical for the BJP as well as regional parties like the Trinamul, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party as their stakes are very high.
In Uttar Pradesh, 44.51 per cent voting was recorded till 3 pm, where polling is underway on 18 seats to decide the fate of 328 candidates including Narendra Modi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal.
Highest turnout of 38.40 per cent is recorded in Deoria where BJP's Kalraj Mishra is in contest with Niyaj Ahmed of BSP, Baleshwar Yadav of SP and Sabha Kunwar of Congress.
(Read: Narendra Modi asks people to create voting record in Varanasi)
"The polling has started on a peaceful note and will continue till 6 pm. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for this phase", UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said.
In Kushinagar where Minister of State for Home RPN Singh is contesting 35.30 per cent votes have been cast, Gorakhpur where one of BJP's saffron face Yogi Adityanath is in fray 37.10 votes have been polled.
The highest turnout of 46.80 per cent was recorded in Chanduali constituency. Domariyaganj recorded 30.20, Deoria 44.60, Maharajganj 44.60, Bansgaon 41.8, Lalganj 46, Ghosi 45.86, Salempur 42, Ballia 43.5, Jaunpur 36.80, Machhlishahr 42.20, Ghazipur 44.46, Chandauli 46.80, Varanasi 45.20, Mirzapur 42.96 and Robertsganj 45.05 per cent votes were cast, data from Election Commission said.
Among those who exercised their franchise was sitting BJP MP Murli Manohar Joshi, who cast his vote in Ardali Bazaar area and exuded confidence that BJP would win with a huge majority in these elections. The senior BJP leader, who has vacated this seat for Modi this time and has moved on to Kanpur, said there were no doubts about Modi's win from Varanasi.
When asked about the 'Modi wave', Joshi said there was a "wave of change" everywhere under the leadership of Modi. Asked which seat Modi should retain between Varanasi and Vadodara, he said this decision would be taken by Modi himself. He refused to comment on whether he would be in the cabinet if a BJP government is formed, saying at the moment he was only looking to become an MP.
(Read: No discontent over vacating Varanasi seat for Narendra Modi: Murli Manohar Joshi)
He said he would not get into any controversy by answering 'tricky' questions of journalists. Joshi said there was no question of any discontent on the issue of vacating the Varanasi seat.
Over 3 crore voters, including 1.42 crore women, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 19,881 polling centres to decide the fate of 328 candidates, including 14 women and various political stalwarts.
There were reports of technical snags in EVMs at some places, which have been set right, they said.
In Chandauli there were complaints of pictures of SP leaders being displayed on laptops in the polling stations, which have also been removed, the sources added. A report from Maharajganj said that there are reports of snag in polling machines in three polling stations of Nautenwa, Panera and Sadar and in a village in Ballia was boycotting polling.
While maximum number of 42 candidates are in fray from Varanasi, minimum of 12 candidates are contesting from Bansgaon. In the mother of all political battles, Kejriwal will take on Modi from the temple city of Varanasi, which witnessed massive show of strength by both the outsiders, also attracting the attention of international media.
An impressive 35.3 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 1 PM in Varanasi. this high-profile constituency where BJP's Narendra Modi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal are in the fray even as Congress nominee Ajay Rai landed in trouble after he went to vote wearing his election symbol on his kurta.
(Read: AAP to use spy cameras in Varanasi to check malpractices during voting)
Congress' Ajay Rai, a 'local' backed by Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED), also wooed voters here as the high pitched canvassing saw allegations and counter-allegations flowing thick and fast between leaders of different hues.
The Samajwadi Party supremo, besides sticking to his traditional bastion in Mainpuri, has thrown his hat into the ring from Azamgarh too.
However, unlike Mainpuri, Azamgarh may not be a cakewalk for him as he faces a tough fight from BSP's Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, Rastriya Ulema Council Chief Aamir Rashadi Madani, and Mulayam's former associate Ramakant Yadav, who is now fighting on a BJP ticket.
While Mulayam is banking on his traditional Muslim-Yadav vote bank, division of Muslim votes by Madani and Guddu Jamali could benefit Ramakant.
Political heavyweights like Minister of State for Home RPN Singh from Kushinagar and Jagdambika Pal, who switched sides from Congress to the saffron party is contesting against UP assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey (SP) from Domariyaganj seat.
The other prominent candidates include CPI's Atul Kumar Anjaan from Ghosi, who is locked in a tight contest against controversial legislator Ansari, BJP leader Kalraj Mishra from Deoria, yogi-turned politician Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur, Bhojpuri movie star Ravi Kishan from Jaunpur and former prime minister Chandrashekhar's son, Neeraj Shekhar from Ballia.
Muscleman Dhananjay Singh, who is a sitting MP, is again in the fray from Jaunpur, but this time as an independent candidate after being expelled from BSP.
Among smaller parties prominent leaders, who are in fray included Peace Party head, Mohammad Ayub from Domariyaganj, Apna Dal's (which has entered into an alliance with BJP) Anupriya Patel from Mirzapur, Rastriya Parivartan Dal's DP Yadav, whose son Vikas Yadav was convicted in murder of Nitish Katara and chief of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party Om Prakash Rajbhar from Salempur.
The 18 seats, which are going to polls include Domariyaganj, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Lalganj, Ghosi, Azamgarh, Salempur, Ballia, Jaunpur, Machhlishahar, Gazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj.
7 per cent voting recorded in six Lok Sabha seats in Bihar
Nearly 57 per cent voting was recorded in six Lok Sabha seats in Bihar which went to poll in the sixth and final phase of election on Monday. The voting percentage was over 12 per cent higher in these seats than that in the last general elections in 2009.
Valmikinagar saw voter turnout of 57 per cent, while it was 60 per cent in West Champaran, East Champaran 56 per cent each, Vaishali 57.5 per cent, Gopalganj (SC) 54 and Siwan 56 per cent, an Election Commission statement said.
Against 56.67 voting percentage in the six seats on Monday the corresponding percentage in 2009 poll was 44.35 per cent.
Notwithstanding soaring temperature which reached almost 43 degrees celsius, voter enthusiasm, particularly among women, were witnessed across all polling stations.
In Meenapur block of Vaishali, an elderly woman was seen arriving at a booth in a cart to cast her vote.
A large number of burqa-clad women were seen standing in queue outsides booths in Siwan parliamentary constituency. RJD candidate from Siwan Heena Sahbab stood with women in the queue to vote.
In Gopalganj, an FIR was lodged against ruling JD(U) MLA, Amrendra Kumar Pandey alias Pappu Pandey along with nine aides for allegedly attacking a voter, Jairam Tiwari, outside a booth. Two of the MLA's aides have been arrested while raids to nab him was on, the police in Gopalganj said.
There were also reports of fights between BJP and JD(U) workers at some booths in East Champaran. Complaints of problems in EVMs were reported from some booths in Gopalganj, East Champaran and elsewhere, the statement said. Film-maker Prakash Jha and former Union minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh were among the 90 candidates contesting from the six seats.
The Election Commission reduced the duration of polling by two hours in five assembly segments in view of perceived Maoist threat. About 58,000 security personnel were deployed in the last of Lok Sabha elections in the state.
Simultaneously, in West Bengal, nearly 57 per cent votes were cast till 1 PM, where polling is underway in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the fifth and final phase election in the state to decide the fate of 188 candidates.
"On an average, 56.38 per cent of the total 2,55,75,744 voters have cast their votes in the first six hours of polling in the 17 constituencies of Berhampore, Krishnagar, Ranaghat, Bongaon, Barrackpore, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata (South), Kolkata (North), Tamluk, Contai and Ghatal," state's Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said.
Thirteen persons were injured in a clash between CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress supporters at Haroa in North 24 Parganas district, under Minakha assembly segment of Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.
Barring replacement of some EVMs during mock polling and thereafter due to malfunctioning in a number of booths, voting is peaceful except for some stray incidents, Gupta said.
"We have not yet received report of any major incident regarding disruption of law and order or complaint of booth jamming or violation of the model code of conduct," he said.
Security was stepped up for this phase by the Election Commission following pre-poll violence in the last two days.
Arrangements have been made for webcasting and live monitoring of sensitive areas where tight security has been provided by central forces.
The number of security personnel deployed for the polls this time is more than double as in the 2011 Assembly election in the state, the CEO said.
The 17 Lok Sabha constituencies are Beharampore, Krishnagar, Ranaghat, Bongaon, Barrackpore, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata (South), Kolkata (North), Tamluk, Contai and Ghatal. An electorate of 2,55,75,744 is eligible to vote in the crucial round.
Prominent candidates in fray are TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay in Kolkata North, Dinesh Trivedi in Barrackpore and Sougata Roy in Dum Dum, besides celebrities like Dipak Adhikari (Dev) in Ghatal and Tapas Paul in Krishnagar.
Trinamool Yuva President Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Mamata Banerjee, is also a candidate to watch out. CPI(M)'s Subhasini Ali was fighting from the Barrackpore seat.
BJP's candidate magician P C Sorcar (Junior) is contesting in Barasat, WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury in Berhampore. Also in the fray are former finance minister Asim Dasgupta of the CPI-M and former union minister Tapan Sikdar of the BJP in Dum Dum.
