The Hindu : 55 p.c. turnout in first phase of U.P. polling

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 15, 2002

Front Page

Front Page

55 p.c. turnout in first phase of U.P. polling

A woman looking at the names of candidates on an electronic voting machine at a polling station in Ghaziabad on Thursday.- AP

NEW DELHI, FEB. 14. Two BSF personnel were killed in Manipur while an estimated 55 per cent voters cast ballots amid tight security for 92 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and all the 70 constituencies in Uttaranchal which went into the exercise to elect its maiden Assembly today. Two persons received gunshot wounds in Uttar Pradesh while two polling officers died in Uttaranchal during the balloting.

A Home Department spokesman in Lucknow said there were reports of a Samajwadi Party worker being killed in Kairana constituency in Muzaffarnagar district, but this had nothing to do with the election.

State Election Commission sources in Lucknow said nearly 55 per voters exercised their franchise in generally peaceful balloting in the first phase in 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Polling in Uttaranchal passed off peacefully with over 50 per cent voters casting ballots.

In Uttar Pradesh, one person was injured when the gunner of a BJP candidate for Sunha seat in Bareilly opened fire. Another person received gunshot wounds following a clash between rival political groups in Nigohi constituency of Shahjahanpur district.

Polling began on a dull note in the State as winter chill kept people indoors, but picked up as the day advanced. Long queues of voters were seen in the afternoon.

The electoral fortunes of 1,242 candidates, including two former Chief Ministers - Kalyan Singh and Mayawati - were sealed in the electronic voting machines which were used for the first time in an Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.

In Uttaranchal a polling officer was killed when he slipped off a snow-covered hilltop while another died of cardiac arrest.

Today's polling sealed the fate of 927 candidates including the Chief Minister, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

55 p.c. turnout in first phase of U.P. polling

BJP ahead in U.P.: exit polls

70 per cent polling in Manipur

Pearl is dead, Omar Sheikh tells court

It was a guess: Musharraf

India iterates opposition to third-party mediation

'Musharraf talked only of possible test'

Paradeep Phosphates sale cleared

ISI bid foiled

TTD gets I-T exemption

Valentine's day celebrated

Bahrain now a kingdom

Afghan Minister killed