In continuation of the healthy turnout of voters in its previous three phases of polls, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has registered almost 50% presence of voters in the fourth spell of state elections till Wednesday afternoon.
Voting was held between 7am and 6pm, with PTI reporting a voter turnout of 49.89% till 3pm.
A voter turnout of 61.61% was recorded in the third phase of the elections on February 20. The state in the first phase polls on February 10 logged a voting turnout of 60.51% and the figure in the second one jumped to 62.22% on February 14.
As many as 624 candidates were in the latest fray of assembly polls, for which there are 2.3 crore voters, according to the Indian Election Commission data.
Elections took place in 59 constituencies in the districts of Fatehpur, Banda, Pilibhit, Hardoi, Kheri, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Sitapur and Unnao.
Union Minister Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish Mishra is one of the prime accused in the Lakhmipur Kheri violence case, cast his vote amid heavy security deployment, NDTV reported.
Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in violence in Lakhmipur Kheri on October 3 last year. Pilibhit was also one of the sites where farmers’ protests took place in 2020 and 2021.
Meanwhile, Congress suffered a setback in the Rae Bareli constituency when MLA Aditi Singh joined Bharatiya Janata Party in January. She is now contesting on the saffron party’s ticket. Rae Bareli is the parliamentary constituency of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Other prominent candidates in fray include Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brijesh Pathak, Samajwadi Party’s national spokesperson Anurag Bhadauria, former Samajwadi Party minister Abhishek Mishra and former Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Nitin Agarwal.
Mentionable, the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and Uttarakhand went on polls on February 10, with the first phase election in the country's most populous state held then.
The next three phases of voting in Uttar Pradesh are slated for February 27, March 3, and March 7.
As the single-phase polls in Punjab, Goa, and Uttarakhand have already taken place, Manipur remains the only state-- except Uttar Pradesh-- to see voting in two phases on February 27 and March 3.
Counting of votes in all five states will take place on March 10.