58% voter turnout recorded on eight western UP seats in first phase of LS polls

Lucknow: About 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded on eight seats of western Uttar Pradesh where polling took place in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

According to the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app, 63.29 per cent voting was reported in Saharanpur, 57.83 per cent in Moradabad, 60.39 per cent in Kairana, 59.17 per cent in Nagina, 60.23 per cent in Pilibhit, 54.68 per cent in Bijnor, 52.42 per cent in Rampur and 54.91 per cent in Muzaffarnagar.

These seats fall in the Jat and sugarcane belt of the state.

“By 6 pm, voting at most of the polling stations in the state was completed. Exact polling figures along with comparative figures of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be given on Saturday. The polling was completely peaceful and no information of any untoward incident was received,” UP’s Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa told reporters.

The provisional polling figures given by the poll panel was 57.90 per cent.

Rinwa also said that 50 ballot units, 50 control units and 152 VVPATs were changed till 5 pm following complaints from various districts.

People in some areas of Pilibhit district announced a poll boycott as a protest against the lack of civic amenities.

The residents of Purana village, located in the Barkheda Police station limits, said they would not vote in protest against the absence of a bridge in the area.

Residents of Dahgala, Bakshpur and nearby villages boycotted voting as the road leading to the villages through the officers’ colony has allegedly been blocked.

In the Neuria area of the district, some villagers initially said they would not vote as they were aggrieved over the issue of man-animal conflict.

They alleged that tigers from the adjoining Pilibhit Tiger Reserve venture out of the forest and kill villagers but nothing has been done by the administration to prevent such incidents.