A voter turnout of 54.83 per cent was recorded in the eight constituencies of Uttar Pradesh where voting was held in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, according to the Election Commission.
Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Navdeep Rinwa said, “Polling was held peacefully… There were no reports of any untoward incidents.” He added that to ensure free and fair polls, webcasting was done at 8,852 polling places and videography at 967.
The official also said that after the start of voting, a total of 48 ballot units, 48 control units and 208 VVPATs were changed by 5 pm.
According to the Voter Turnout app of the Election Commission, 64.02 per cent polling was recorded in Amroha, followed by 58.70 per cent in Meerut, 55.97 per cent in Baghpat, 49.65 per cent in Ghaziabad, 53.06 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 55.79 in Bulandshahr, 56.62 per cent in Aligarh and 49.29 per cent in Mathura.
Voting ended at 6 pm and the final polling figures will be released on Saturday. There were more than 1.67 crore voters, 7,797 polling stations and 17,704 polling booths in these eight parliamentary constituencies.
In the Mathura Lok Sabha constituency, polling was initially boycotted by people of eight villages who complained about poor infrastructure and other issues, but the process was resumed later.
Actor-politician Hema Malini is seeking a third term from Mathura on a BJP ticket. “Of the eight villages boycotting polls in the Mant Assembly segment, polling has resumed in seven villages,” BJP MLA from Mant Rajesh Chaudhary said. He said polling was boycotted for two to five hours but resumed in Muvarikpur, Sindhauni, Basau, Shiadgarhi, Nand Nagaria, Peeri and Bedna villages after assurances to the villagers of addressing their problems on priority.
Two days ago, residents of Muvarikpur village declared that they would not vote because no road had been built. “Due to the lack of proper connectivity to the village, we have been facing problems for several years. Since no vehicles could reach the village due to the poor roads, we have to walk around 1.5 km from the main Mant-Naujhjeel road to reach the village,” said Vikas Sharma, the husband of village pradhan Pushpa Sharma.
Muvarikpur is approximately 50 km from Mathura city. “I visited the village upon learning about their issue, which I found genuine. They indeed require a road. I assured them that I would expedite the road construction process, and upon this assurance, the locals agreed to cast their votes,” stated MLA Rajesh Chaudhary.
Polling resumed after a brief hiatus in Devpura village falling under the Chhata assembly constituency, state Cabinet Minister Laxmi Narain Chaudhary said.
Villagers at Konai and Bandpura villages boycotted polling for nearly five hours but it resumed after the administration intervened, SDM Goverdhan Nilam Srivastava claimed.
There is a lot of enthusiasm among the first-time voters of Mathura, even in the rural areas such as Barsana, District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said.
In Bulandshahr, voting could not start at the primary school in Chhotabas village in the Pahasu area with villagers staying away over the non-construction of a road. However, after assurances by administrative officials, voting began there around 11 am.
In Amroha, a woman died at the Shivdwara East Secondary School booth during the second phase of voting.
Officials said that Aamna Khatoon (70), a resident of Mohalla Shiv, died soon after coming out of the polling station. District Magistrate Rajesh Tyagi expressed regret over the incident.
Cricketer Mohammad Shami cast his vote in Amroha.
People line up to cast their vote at a polling booth in Ghaziabad, Friday. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) 
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