Lucknow, June 1 (UNI) Undeterred by scorching heat around 39.31 percent of over 2.50 crore voters voted on 13 seats in Saturday’s final phase of Lok Sabha elections, including in Varanasi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting and in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s hometown.
According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) maximum 42.29 percent votes were polled in Maharajganj, whereas Gorakhpur, which is the hometown of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, recorded minimum 37.39 percent turnout till 1 pm.
Varanasi from where PM Modi is seeking a historic third term, 39.25 percent votes were polled till 1 pm. Here Congress has fielded its state president Ajay Rai.
Among other constituencies, 40.22 in Kushinagar, 39.44 percent in Deoria, 37.74 percent in Bansgaon, 38.3 percent in Ghosi, 37.49 percent in Salempur, 38.04 percent in Ballia, 38.75 in Ghazipur, 42.17 percent in Chandauli, 41.55 percent in Mirzapur and 38.44 percent in Robertsganj.
Amid reports of glitches in EVM and boycott calls from some places, long lines of voters were reported from most of the constituencies where polling is being held.
CM Adityanath exercised his franchise at a polling station in Gorakhpur. He reached booth number 223 of English Medium Primary School Gorakhnath (Kanya) in the city area of Purana Gorakhpur at 7 am.
After voting, he appealed to the voters to vote in large numbers and posted on X, “Voted in Gorakhpur for the Lok Sabha elections-2024. All of you must vote for the building ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat-Vikasit Bharat’. Jai Hind.”
Besides CM, Governor of Himachal Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla and sitting MP Ravi Kishan exercised their franchise. Similarly, Lieutenant General (LG) pf Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha exercised his franchise at a booth set up in the primary school in Ghazipur district.
It may be noted that out of 13 seats in this phase 11 were secured by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 general elections.
CEO Navdeep Rinwa informed that apart from voting on 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state, a by-election is also underway for the Duddhi assembly segment in Sonbhadra district where 37.08 percent votes were polled till 1 pm.
He said that polling in 12 parliamentary constituencies which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm, whereas in Robertsganj, polling in two assembly segments which are tribal areas will be held between 7 am and 4 pm.
The CEO said that a total 144 candidates, including 134 male and 10 female, are in the fray. Eleven seats are of general category and two are reserved for Scheduled Castes.
They are spread over 11 districts — Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra.
He said of the total voters, 1.33 crore are male voters and 1.17 crore are female. “There are a total of 14,183 polling centres and 25,658 polling booths where polling is being held,” he said.
