About 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the eight seats of western Uttar Pradesh where polling was carried out in the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Friday. According to Election Commission data, 63.29 per cent voting was reported in Saharanpur, 57.83 per cent in Moradabad, 60.39 per cent in Kairana, 59.17 per cent in Nagina, 60.23 per cent in Pilibhit, 54.68 per cent in Bijnor, 52.42 per cent in Rampur, and 54.91 per cent in Muzaffarnagar.
The Samajwadi Party alleged EVM malfunctioning and booth capturing by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Muzaffarnagar and Kairana. However, by and large polling was peaceful in the eight constituencies.
“An average voter turnout of 57.54 per cent (till 5pm) was recorded in all eight Lok Sabha Seats of west Uttar Pradesh,” said Navdeep Rinwa, chief electoral officer of UP, said in a press conference on Friday evening.
He also said that the Election Commission monitored polling round the clock. Voting was carried out on 14,849 polling booths at 7,689 centres.
On the allegations of booth capturing and EVM malfunctioning, Rinwa said that the state election commission has sought reports from the districts. “In some cases where there were allegations that district administration is not allowing people to cast their votes, we ourselves checked the polling booth through the pre-installed CCTV cameras and found polling was going on smoothly,” he said.
Muzaffarnagar SP candidate Harendra Malik accused BJP agents of capturing the booth at the saffron party’s candidate Sanjeev Baliyan’s village Kutbi Kutba. The SP tagged the Election Commission in a post on social media site X and claimed that polling booths in Muzaffarnagar and Kairana have been captured by the BJP.
Officials said elaborate security arrangements were made at the polling centres where around 6,018 inspectors and sub-inspectors, a total of 35,750 constables and 24,992 home guard personnel, along with 60 companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and 220 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) had been deployed.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP netted three of the eight seats: Pilibhit, Kairana, and Muzaffarnagar. The Samajwadi Party emerged victorious in Moradabad and Rampur, while the Bahujan Samaj Party secured Saharanpur, Bijnor, and Nagina. The BJP later wrested the Rampur seat from the SP in a June 2022 by-poll.
In Rampur, the SP has fielded Mohibullah Nadvi, the BJP has picked Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, and the BSP has nominated Zeeshan Khan. The SP has now fielded Ruchi Veera from Moradabad, the BJP has given a ticket to Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar Singh, and the BSP has opted for Irfan Saifi. In Kairana, the SP has fielded Iqra Hasan, the BJP has picked Pradeep Choudhary, and the BSP has given its ticket to Shripal Rana. The BJP has fielded Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit, Bhagwat Saran Gangwar is the SP candidate, and the BSP has fielded Anis Ahmed Khan. In Muzaffarnagar, the SP has fielded Harendra Singh Malik from here, the BJP has reposed faith in Sanjeev Balyan once more, while the BSP has picked Dara Singh Prajapati. The BJP has fielded Raghav Lakhanpal again, the BSP has picked Majid Ali, while the Congress has opted for Imran Masood in Saharanpur. The SP has now given a ticket to Deepak Saini in Bijnor, the RLD has fielded Chandan Chauhan, and the BSP has picked Chaudhary Vijendra Singh. The BJP candidate from Nagina this time is Om Kumar, the SP has nominated Manoj Kumar, while the BSP has fielded Surendra Raj Singh.
A total of 80 candidates — 73 men and seven women — were in the fray in the first phase of polling in UP. The Election Commission (EC) said 1.43 crore people were eligible to cast their votes in the phase. Of them, 76.23 lakh were men, 67.14 lakh were women, and 824 were transgender persons.
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