Recording the lowest turnout so far in this Assembly election, only around 55% of the 2.25 crore voters spread over 61 constituencies cast their ballot in the fifth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh. The figure is around 5% lower than the turnout in 2017.
While Chitrakoot and Ayodhya, said to be bastions of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), recorded the highest turnout, Pratapgarh, at 52.65%, finished at the bottom of the 12 districts that voted on Sunday.
In this crucial phase, the fate of 693 candidates is locked in the electronic voting machines. They include Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya; senior Minister Siddharth Nath Singh; Samajwadi Party (SP) ally and head of Apna Dal (Kamerwadi) Krishna Patel; and Jansatta Dal chief Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiyya.
In an official release, the Election Commission of India said 377 incidents of violation of Model Code of Conduct came to light and action is being taken. Stray incidents of violence were also reported. In the Kareli area of Prayagraj, one person died and another was injured by a blast in a packet they were carrying on a bicycle. The victim was identified as Arjun and the injured is said to be his cousin.
