Around 60.25 percent out of more than 1.44 crore votes were polled in eight parliamentary constituencies in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh amid tight security arrangements, polling officer said here on Saturday.
Chief Electoral Officer of UP Navdeep Rinwa said that the Saharanpur seat saw the highest turnout of 65.95 percent, while Rampur registered the lowest turnout of 54.77 percent.
Among other constituencies, 58.21 percent votes were polled in Bijnor, 61.17 percent in Kairana, 60.6 percent in Moradabad, 59.29 percent in Muzaffarnagar, 59.54 percent in Nagina and 61.91 percent in Pilibhit.
The voting percentage in this phase is 5.9 percent less as compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2019, there was 66.15 percent voting in Bijnor, 63.64 percent in Nagina, 65.45 percent in Moradabad, and 67.37 percent in Pilibhit.
These eight parliamentary constituencies were spread over nine districts including Saharanpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur, Pilibhit, and Bareilly. Barring isolated incidents, voting generally passed off peacefully.
The first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh is crucial for all the political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the INDI alliance, comprising Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress, and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
In the Saharanpur seat, Congress candidate Imran Masood is locked in a battle with BJP nominee Raghav Lakhanpal. BSP, which has denied tickets to its sitting MP, Haji Fazlur Rehman, is heavily banking on Majid Ali.
Similarly, in the Kairana seat, sitting BJP MP Pradeep Chaudhary is being challenged by Iqra Hasan of the SP and Shripal Rana of the BSP. Iqra, who is making her debut in electoral politics, is the sister of three-time MLA Nahid Hasan and the daughter of two-time MP Tabassum Hasan.
In Pilibhit, where the BJP has denied tickets to sitting MP Varun Gandhi, the party has fielded the PWD Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government and former Union Minister Jitin Prasada. Here, the SP has fielded its old loyalist and former minister, Bhagwat Saran Gangwar. The BSP has fielded Anis Ahmad Khan in this seat.
In the Muzaffarnagar seat, SP has pitched senior leader Harendra Malik against two-time BJP MPs and Union Minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan. Bijnor seat National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MLA Chandhan Chauhan is locked in a contest with Deepak Saini of SP and Chaudhary Vijendra Singh of BSP.
An interesting contest is being witnessed in Nagina seat, where the Chief of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), Chandra Shekhar Azad, is posing a serious challenge to the BJP’s Om Kumar, the SP’s Manoj Kumar, and Surendra Pal Singh of the BSP. The 2019 candidate of Mahagatbandhan, comprising SP, BSP, and RLD, Girish Chandra, emerged victorious from this seat, but this time he was denied a ticket by the BSP.
In the Moradabad seat, SP candidate Ruchi Veera is challenging Sravesh Kumar Singh of the BJP. But going seems to be difficult for the SP candidate after sitting MP HT Hasan distanced himself from the campaigning after being denied a ticket by the party.
Rampur is witnessing its first general election in the absence of senior SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan. In the 2022 by-election for the Rampur seat, the BJP breached the bastion of the SP, probably for the first time after several years when BJP candidate and sitting MP Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi defeated the SP’s Mohammad Asim Rama, considered to be close to Azam Khan.
This time SP has fielded Mohibullah Nadvi, which has led to confusion among the supporters and well-wishers of Azam Khan. Here, BSP has given a ticket to a newcomer, Zeeshan Khan, who has been associated with the party for more than a decade.
It may be mentioned that almost all the parties, especially the BJP, which aims to win all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, had campaigned extensively in the first phase. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Saharanpur.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had toured almost all the election-bound districts twice or three times, seeking support in favour of the BJP candidates. Besides, a battery of ministers in the BJP government, including Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya, Brajesh Pathak, and state president Bhupendra Singh, also campaigned extensively in the first phase of the polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Though SP chief Akhilesh Yadav started campaigning a bit late for the party candidates, he held rallies in Nagina (Bijnor) and Moradabad. Before this, he also held a rally in Pilibhit. Congress has been the only exception, and none of the senior leaders held a single rally in the first phase of Uttar Pradesh.
Only national General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi held a roadshow in Saharanpur seeking support in favour of party candidate Imran Masood on the last day of campaigning on Wednesday.
