Deoria byelection: 51% voters exercise their voting rights

Gorakhpur: Around 51.05% voters turned out till 6pm as voting concluded for by-election in Deoria Sadar seat on Tuesday.
The seat became vacant after the sad demise of BJP MLA Janmejay Singh in August. The fate of 14 candidates has been sealed at 184 polling centres and 487 polling booths of the district. Among 3,36,565 voters, 51.05 % exercised their voting rights.
The entire constituency was divided in 8 zones and 48 sectors and the control room was established at the collectorate conference hall. Live telecast was arranged at 49 polling centres and videography was done at 61 booths. ‘Covid -19’ protocol was followed at each booth. Masks and gloves were provided to voters by the administration. EVMs will be collected under high security at a strong room at Maharaja Agrasen Inter College, said district magistrate Amit Kishore.
The polling started at 7am and was obstructed for sometime at around 20 booth centres as EVMs were not functioning. The voter turnout in Deoria, which was slow in the morning till 9am, picked momentum in the last few hours and reached 55% by 6.30pm. The turnout was only 18.1% till 11am, and it crossed 40% by 3pm. As per the election officer the polling reached 51.05% by 6pm.
Samajwadi party candidate, Brahamma Shankar Tripathi raised objection on a image of lotus on a pillar of a school at booth number 253 as lotus is the symbol of BJP. Later administration covered the image.
“It is an open violation of the election code of conduct and I will make a complaint regarding the issue to the election commission. Administration is working as an agent of the ruling party. Voting was delayed at many booths due to faulty EVM machines, especially at the booths having more voters in favour of the SP,” said Tripathi.