This story is from April 30, 2021

Rural polls final round: Turnout 75%, higher voting in west Uttar Pradesh

The fourth and final phase of UP panchayat elections passed off peacefully with an average turnout of over 75%. There were, however, reports of chaos at polling booths at Sonbhadra and Mathura. The poll percentage was relatively moderate due to the second wave of the pandemic and the first three phases too witnessed an average 73% polling.
Rural polls final round: Turnout 75%, higher voting in west Uttar Pradesh
A man carries an old voter to a polling booth in Mathura
LUCKNOW: The fourth and final phase of UP panchayat elections passed off peacefully with an average turnout of over 75%. There were, however, reports of chaos at polling booths at Sonbhadra and Mathura. The poll percentage was relatively moderate due to the second wave of the pandemic and the first three phases too witnessed an average 73% polling.
With this, curtains were drawn on rural local bodies’ elections considered the semi-final before the high-stakes assembly elections next year.
Counting will be held on May 2. All political parties, especially BJP had thrown its weight behind the panchayat polls to step up their rural outreach.
As per official figures of state election commission till 5 pm, turnout was higher in the west UP region with Sambhal recording the highest turnout of over 78%. The district has 35 zila panchayat wards, 852 kshetra panchayat wards and 670 gram panchayats. Hapur, Farrukhabad, Mathura and Aligarh registered around 75%, 74%, 73% and 72%, respectively. Shahjahanpur, which is represented by senior BJP leader and cabinet minister Suresh Khanna, recorded 76% voting.In all, polling was done in 17 districts covering 738 zila panchayat wards, 18,356 kshetra panchayat wards and 14,111 gram panchayats. This phase accounted for 2.98 crore voters who were to exercise their franchise in 48,554 polling booths.
Ambedkarnagar, a citadel of Mayawati-led BSP, clocked a moderate polling of over 70% while Mau, the pocket borough of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, recorded a turnout of over 71%%. Even Ghazipur, which is represented by Mukhtar’s brother Afzal Ansari in the Lok Sabha registered 72% polling.
Election commission data show that east UP witnessed lesser turnout with districts like Kaushambi and Kushinagar recording around 67% and 70% polling, respectively. Basti, however, recorded 73% polling, which was relatively higher in comparison to other east UP districts. Basti has 43 zila panchayat wards, 1,077 kshetra panchayat wards and 1,185 gram panchayats. Sonbhadra in Vindhyachal region and Banda in Bundelkhand saw only 66% and 62% voting.
Sitapur, which has maximum number of rural local bodies in this phase, recorded 73% polling till last reports came in. The district with a sizable percentage of OBCs and SCs, is represented by BJP’s Rajesh Verma in the Lok Sabha. Verma is also chief of UP unit of BJP OBC Morcha.
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