As polling ends in UP, the wait begins

Voting in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election wrapped up on Saturday evening with a fulsome voting turnout which was reported to be 62 percent till 5 pm. Election Commission (EC) officials here heaved a sigh of relief as the elections passed off by and large peacefully.
UP chief election officer expressed happiness at the high voter turnout in the seventh and last phase, pointing out that the earlier phases had averaged between 55 and 60 per cent. Interestingly, voting in this region was earlier scheduled to be conducted in the first phase on February 4 but was later postponed to the last phase.
Voting was conducted for 60 assembly seats in 10 districts of UP’s Ruhelkhand region, and the electoral fate of as many as 962 candidates was sealed on Saturday. The enthusiastic turnout of voters, including a large numbers of women and first-time voters, took EC officials here by surprise. Sinha pointed out that the average voter turnout in the seven phases worked out to 59.16 percent which was the highest ever in any election in UP.
The UP CEO told reporters here that the maximum polling was recorded in the Hasanpur seat of Jyotiba Phule Nagar (72%) while the lowest was reported from Bareilly Cantonment seat in Bareilly district (54%). Nine of the 10 districts (except for Budaun) which voted in this phase recorded a turnout of over 60%, Sinha said, adding that the highest turn

out was in Jyotiba Phule Nagar at 67.25%.
At most places, the turnout by 3 pm had already surpassed the polling percentage in 2007.
The prestige of several senior leaders of various parties was at stake in this region. They included BJP MPs Maneka and Varun Gandhi, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Congress MPs Zafar Ali Naqvi, Jitin Prasada and Mohd Azharuddin, Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who was facing stiff opposition from ex-SP leaders Jaya Prada and Amar Singh in his native Rampur, while the BSP fought a tough challenge to retain its top slot as the winner of the maximum number of seats (27) in this region in 2007.
Meanwhile at Ujhani area in Badaun, JD(U) candidate was assaulted allegedly by SP supporters. In another incident in Pilibhit, BJP andCongress men gheraoed a police station after some workers were detained.
A total of 6,839 candidates were in the fray in the month-long election for Uttar Pradesh’s 403 assembly seats. The votes will be counted on Tuesday.