NEW DELHI, Feb 14: A high percentage of turnout was recorded in Goa, and moderate in Uttarakhand and the second phase of polling for 55 seats in Uttar Pradesh on Monday. Voting was held peacefully on 36,823 polling stations spread across 165 Assembly constituencies in the three states which saw completion of the elections in Goa and Uttarakhand in a single phase.
According to the Election Commission of India data, at 6 pm, the time of completion of polling, while Goa recorded a high voter turnout of 78.94 per cent, UP and Uttarakhand recorded 62.52 per cent and 59.61 per cent turnout, respectively.
Polling was conducted for single phase election in 40 assembly constituencies in Goa, 70 in Uttarakhand and for 55 in Uttar Pradesh’s second phase of the Assembly election.
In Uttar Pradesh, six people were caught with fake voter IDs at a polling booth in Rampur. Of the six accused, four were women. Following this, the BJP filed a complaint with the state election commissioner, saying that women wearing veils were being allowed to cast their vote without proper checks and it was resulting in fake voting. The party requested the state election commissioner to ensure that proper verification of such women takes place before they cast their vote.
The residents of Jaggi Bagwan and Chilaund villages in Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath assembly constituency boycotted the state Assembly polls on Monday as a mark of protest over a road not being constructed. The 225 voters of Chilaund and 376 of Jaggi Bagwan had earlier announced their decision to boycott the polls complaining about non-construction of a road, a long-standing demand of the villagers.
The Additional District Magistrate and Chief Development Officer, Rudraprayag, reached the two villages on Monday to persuade them to vote. However, the villagers refused to budge and boycotted the election.
(Manas Dasgupta)
