Voting closed at 6 pm in Uttar Pradesh across 55 assembly constituencies in Amroha, Budaun, Bareilly, Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Sambhal, Shahjahanpur districts on February 14. According to the Election Commission (EC), the final voter turnout was more than 61% at 8 pm. About two crore voters decided the fate of about 586 candidates in the fray today. There were a total of 2.02 crore eligible voters, out of which 1.08 crore were male, 94 lakh female, and 1,296 belonged to the third gender. Twenty-three thousand four hundred four polling places and 12,544 polling stations were set up.
Of the 55 seats in question, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 38, the Samajwadi Party (SP) 13 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress 2 each in the last assembly elections back in 2017.
War of words
The political parties certainly have not squandered any opportunities to take digs at each other. While canvassing for his party candidates in the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, BJP president JP Nadda hit out at the SP, saying that it was synonymous with “corruption, commission and crime”. He also alleged that the Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav was making lofty promises to farmers while his party did nothing for them when it was in power. Nadda further said that the erstwhile governments led by the SP and the BSP were responsible for the prevalence of “mafia raj” in Uttar Pradesh and allowed goons to unleash a reign of terror; however, the BJP dispensation led by Yogi Adityanath eliminated them.
On the other hand, the BSP leader Sarvesh Kumar from Shahjahanpur alleged that the police had detained him on Sunday night on the instructions of state minister Suresh Khanna. He said he was only released after a formal complaint was made to the EC.
Other events
Congress candidate from Lucknow East Manoj Tiwari spent the polling day, which was Valentine’s Day, with senior citizens. He offered roses and chocolates to senior citizens and vowed to take care of them. Tiwari said that this is the best moment to reach out to the elderly as they are the ones “who always guide us”.
“By offering our elderly roses and chocolates, I sought their blessings and assured them all possible care they need. I told them that irrespective of my victory or defeat, I will be there for them,” Tiwari told PTI. “A lot of senior citizens reside in this constituency. There is a need to talk to them and understand their problems,” said Tiwari. He assured them better health facilities and separate parks if he was chosen as an MLA.
In other news, 55-year-old Rashid Ali, a returning officer posted on election duty in the Nakur assembly constituency, reportedly died around 1:30 am following a cardiac arrest and was rushed to hospital. According to the District Election Officer of Saharanpur, Akhilesh Singh, he was posted at a polling booth in Dhikka Tapri village. His health got deteriorated suddenly on Sunday night.
