Lucknow, Apr 18: An estimated 22 per cent of about 1.5 crore elecorate had &13;exercised their franchise till noon today in the third phase of assembly &13;elections in Uttar Pradesh to 57 constituencies, spread over 10 &13;districts.
Polling was underway on a peaceful note and no untoward &13;incident has been reported so far from anywhere.
State additional Chief &13;Electoral Officer (CEO) Mritunjay Kumar Narain told sources here that till 1100 &13;hours the official poll percentage was 16.57.
He said the polling was &13;peaceful except for some preliminary teething trouble reported from several &13;places due to non-functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs). &13;
''These machines were replaced immediately,'' Mr Narain said.
EC &13;sources said the voting percentage till 1230 hours is expected to be around 22 &13;per cent.
Polling was on at 14884 polling booths.
Meanwhile a &13;report from Farrukhabad said state Congress president Salman Khurshid and his &13;wife and party candidate from Kayamganj seat Luise Khurshid could not vote as &13;their names were missing from the electoral rolls.
District authorities &13;have directed the officials to investigate the matter.
In Rampur, &13;however, senior Congress leader and former MP Noor Bano and state urban &13;development minister Mohammad Azam Khan exercised their franchise.
In &13;Gunnaur assembly constituency, from where chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is &13;contesting, the polling was peaceful but the turnout was very low.
Till &13;1100 Gunnaur recorded only 14 per cent polling whereas in the bypolls held in &13;2003 to elect Mr Yadav, there was a record voting of 90 per &13;cent.
Encouraged by the violence-free polling in Phase-I on April 7 and &13;Phase-II on April 13, the EC has further tightened security arrangements for &13;polling in the third phase in communally sensitive Moradabad, Rampur and Bijnor &13;districts of the state.
Security forces are conducting flag march while &13;the international border with Nepal in Pilibhit and inter-state borders have &13;been sealed.
Central Para Military Forces have been deployed at all &13;polling booths and sensitive areas to ensure free and fair &13;polling.
Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash is keeping a constant &13;vigil in the sensitive areas through a helicopter while each of the 57 &13;constituencies has been provided with one additional central observer to monitor &13;the polling.
More than 660 companies of central para military forces, &13;along with 60,000 state police have been deployed for polling in this phase &13;which include several communally sensitive districts like Amroha, Moradabad, &13;Rampur, Bijnor, Sambhal and Bareilly.
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh &13;Yadav(Gunnaur), deputy speaker of the state legislative assembly Rajesh Agarwal &13;of BJP (Bareilly city), state Urban Development minister Mohammad Azam Khan &13;(Rampur) are among the 861 candidates whose fate will be sealed in the &13;Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) today.
UNI
Polling was underway on a peaceful note and no untoward &13;incident has been reported so far from anywhere.
State additional Chief &13;Electoral Officer (CEO) Mritunjay Kumar Narain told sources here that till 1100 &13;hours the official poll percentage was 16.57.
He said the polling was &13;peaceful except for some preliminary teething trouble reported from several &13;places due to non-functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs). &13;
''These machines were replaced immediately,'' Mr Narain said.
EC &13;sources said the voting percentage till 1230 hours is expected to be around 22 &13;per cent.
Polling was on at 14884 polling booths.
Meanwhile a &13;report from Farrukhabad said state Congress president Salman Khurshid and his &13;wife and party candidate from Kayamganj seat Luise Khurshid could not vote as &13;their names were missing from the electoral rolls.
District authorities &13;have directed the officials to investigate the matter.
In Rampur, &13;however, senior Congress leader and former MP Noor Bano and state urban &13;development minister Mohammad Azam Khan exercised their franchise.
In &13;Gunnaur assembly constituency, from where chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is &13;contesting, the polling was peaceful but the turnout was very low.
Till &13;1100 Gunnaur recorded only 14 per cent polling whereas in the bypolls held in &13;2003 to elect Mr Yadav, there was a record voting of 90 per &13;cent.
Encouraged by the violence-free polling in Phase-I on April 7 and &13;Phase-II on April 13, the EC has further tightened security arrangements for &13;polling in the third phase in communally sensitive Moradabad, Rampur and Bijnor &13;districts of the state.
Security forces are conducting flag march while &13;the international border with Nepal in Pilibhit and inter-state borders have &13;been sealed.
Central Para Military Forces have been deployed at all &13;polling booths and sensitive areas to ensure free and fair &13;polling.
Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash is keeping a constant &13;vigil in the sensitive areas through a helicopter while each of the 57 &13;constituencies has been provided with one additional central observer to monitor &13;the polling.
More than 660 companies of central para military forces, &13;along with 60,000 state police have been deployed for polling in this phase &13;which include several communally sensitive districts like Amroha, Moradabad, &13;Rampur, Bijnor, Sambhal and Bareilly.
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh &13;Yadav(Gunnaur), deputy speaker of the state legislative assembly Rajesh Agarwal &13;of BJP (Bareilly city), state Urban Development minister Mohammad Azam Khan &13;(Rampur) are among the 861 candidates whose fate will be sealed in the &13;Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) today.
UNI
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