LS polls: UP records over 24% voting in 8 constituencies till 11 am

Lucknow: A voter turnout of 24.31 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling in the eight parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh in phase two of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, according to officials.

The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

Voting in Uttar Pradesh in the second phase is underway in Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura constituencies.

Election Commission (EC) officials said 28.45 per cent votes were polled in Amroha, 25.67 per cent in Meerut, 22.74 per cent in Baghpat, 23.19 per cent in Ghaziabad, 24.26 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 23.43 in Bulandshahr, 24.42 per cent in Aligarh and 23.07 in Mathura till 11 am. There are more than 1.67 crore voters, 7,797 polling stations and 17,704 polling booths in these eight Lok Sabha constituencies.

Among the 91 candidates in the fray in this phase are actor-turned-politician Hema Malini, seeking a third term from Mathura on a BJP ticket, and actor Arun Govil, who portrayed the role of Lord Ram in television serial "Ramayan".

The ruling BJP has fielded Govil from his native place Meerut, Atul Garg from Ghaziabad and Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddh Nagar. Danish Ali of the Congress is contesting the polls from Amroha.

In Mathura, voters of four villages are boycotting the polls alleging indifference of representatives towards their basic problems. "The villagers are being persuaded to cast their votes with assurance that their problems would be given top priority," District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said.

There is, however, a lot of enthusiasm among the first-time voters of Mathura, even in the rural areas such a Barsana, the DM said.

BJP candidate Hema Malini, while talking to reporters, said she was hopeful that people would vote in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by pressing the lotus button on the EVMs.

"I would not have been the MP from Mathura had opposition party candidates worked even a little for the constituency," Malini said while responding to a question.

Claiming herself to be the 'gopi' (female devotee) of 'Kanha', she said, "The promises I have made would be fulfilled to receive the blessings of Kanha." People from all walks of life preferred to vote early in the day to avoid the scorching heat after noon and also made it a point to get clicked at the selfie points.

In Ghaziabad, Union Minister General (retd) V K Singh cast his vote in the morning. Singh, the current BJP MP from Ghaziabad, had announced not to contest the elections this time and the party in his place has fielded former state government minister Atul Garg as its candidate.

In response to a question, Singh said he was confident that the BJP would achieve Modi's target of crossing 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

After casting his vote in Aligarh, SP candidate Bijendra Singh told reporters, "The country is run by the Constitution, not by emotions and the voting taking place in the country today is to save the Constitution and the truth. Therefore, I am confident that this time the BJP will lose and the INDI Alliance will win." In Amroha, Congress candidate MP Danish Ali claimed that there is a one-sided atmosphere in the elections and his BJP rival will be far behind him.