UP records over 60% turnout amid violent clashes
25 April 2014 11:47 PM GMT
Over 60 per cent of the voters have exercised their franchise for the third phase of polling for 12 Lok Sabha seats in 15 sensitive districts of central regions of Uttar Pradesh today which was by and large peaceful.
Report of violence was received from Mathura where three people were injured in a firing between the supporters of the BJP and RLD during the polling. The incident took place in Baldev area of Mathura near a polling booth when supporters of BJP candidate Hema Malani and RLD candidate Jayant Choudhury clashed. Both the groups first pelted stones on each other and later opened fire.
ADM (Mathura) Vishwa Bhushan Mishra said here that three people were injured in the clash who have been identified as Bacchu Singh, Kale Singh and Omveer. All the three have been admitted to the district hospital in Mathura.
Another report from Farrukhabad said that SHO of Merapur police station Ram Jivan Yadav has been put on suspension by superintendent of police (SP) Alankrita Singh for forcing the voters to vote for a particular candidate during Thursday’s polling.
A report from Etah said that 635 voters of the Amirpurwa village and 750 voters of Tatehpur village in Etah Lok Sabha seat boycotted the polls.
The voting started on a brisk note but slowed down little due to the heat wave conditions. EC officials claimed that the polling was peaceful and no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere so far.
Till 5 pm, Mathura recorded the highest of 60.20 per cent of voting while Etawah was the lowest with 52.03 per cent voting.
Voting percentage in this phase during 2009 Lok Sabha elections was 46.63, while in 2012 assembly polls it was 60.42 per cent.
Except for some early technical problems in the EVMs in a few polling booths, the process started on a smooth note. Faulty EVMs were immediately changed.
The third phase would test the fate of many senior leaders, including SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri), his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav (Kannauj), RLD candidates Amar Singh (Fatehpur Sikri) and Jayant Choudhury (Mathura), Union external affairs minister and Congress candidate Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad and Bollywood star Hema Malini of BJP (Mathura) and Akshay Yadav.
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