A voter turnout of 61% was recorded till 5 pm in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday in the fourth phase of Assembly elections, ANI reported. The turnout is expected to rise till 63%, the Election Commission said. Around Rs 13.49 crore of cash and 3.26 lakh litres of liquor worth about Rs 8.17 was crore seized in this phase of elections, the poll panel said.
A total of 53 seats were in play during this phase, including Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha seat of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and the troubled Bundelkhand region. Among the districts voting are Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur.
Around 1.84 crore voters are choosing from among 680 candidates, of which 116 are accused in criminal cases. The Bharatiya Janata Party will look to make strong gains in this phase to overcome the incumbent Samajwadi Party – it did not win any of the 53 seats in the 2012 Assembly elections. The SP had won 24 of the constituencies, while Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party had 15.
The Assembly elections in UP will be a test of the BJP’s strength, especially since it decided to demonetise 86% of India’s cash in November. The BJP has sensed an opening given the in-fighting within the SP, which has allied with the Congress for these elections.
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