LUCKNOW, 24 April 2007 — The fourth phase of polling for 57 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh ended peacefully yesterday. The turnout was 45 percent, sources said.
Voting began on a sluggish note and at 2 p.m. poll officials estimated a turnout of more than 25 percent out of an electorate of 15.5 million, including seven million women. It accelerated later.
A total of 15,233 polling stations were set up across the 10 districts of Lakhimpur-Kheri, Sitapur, Barabanki, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti, Siddharth Nagar and Sant Kabirnagar.
Since a number of these districts share their borders with Nepal, a large part of the 600-km long Uttar Pradesh-Nepal border had been sealed on both sides since Sunday night.
Except for vehicles engaged in security duties and those carrying wedding groups, all other movement was banned throughout the day, a senior policeman entrusted with the task said.
“The decision to seal the border had been taken in consultation with the Nepalese government to prevent infiltration by undesirable elements,” the official said.
The Election Commission had deployed nearly 66,000 paramilitary personnel in addition to about 40,000 state policemen to handle the intensified security arrangements. “The polling was a moderate 45 percent,” state Chief Election Officer Anuj Kumar Bishnoi said. “Voting picked up during the day, and despite the severe summer heat, people came out in reasonable numbers,” he said.
Describing the polling as “smooth” and “trouble-free”, he added: “We cannot take any chances. We are still keeping our fingers crossed in view of the highest number of number of contestants in the fray as compared to any of the past three phases.”
There were 922 candidates in the field against 839, 881 and 861 in the first, second and third phases of the seven-phased elections.
As many as 118 candidates had criminal cases against them, ranging from attempt to murder, culpable homicide, extortion, criminal intimidation, kidnapping and wrongful confinement.
The Samajwadi Party tops the list with 27 such nominees, followed by 16 of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 12 from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and six of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), besides independents and those belonging to smaller political outfits.
A survey published Sunday said the BSP would finish on top of a hung Uttar Pradesh Assembly with more seats than predicted earlier, pushing the ruling SP to the third place.
The keenly contested assembly election will also push up the BJP to the second spot although neither the BJP nor SP will touch three-digit figures, said the survey carried in The Sunday Express. The Congress was running a poor fourth.
