Voters cast their votes in the first phase of assembly elections at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)2022 Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly Election Phase 1 Voting Live News: Polling for the first phase of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh ended at 6 pm on Thursday, with the state recording a voting turnout of 60.51 per cent. Even as the overall voting process remained peaceful, there were reports of a technical error in EVMs at a few places. As many as 623 candidates were in the fray and around 2.27 crore people were eligible to vote in this phase in which a total of 58 constituencies spread across 11 districts in the western belt of the state went to polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing an election rally in UP’s Saharanpur, said the Yogi Adityanath government has consistently worked towards preventing crimes against Muslim women, while the Opposition has stood in the way of their progress for the sake of votes.
A bulk of the UP seats, which went to polls today, are Jat dominated who had participated actively in the stir against the Centre’s three contentious agriculture laws in the national capital last year. The fiercely contested first round, where the ruling BJP is expected to face a stiff challenge from the resurgent alliance of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), will test the impact of the farmers stir.
In other news, the Election Commission revised the dates of assembly polls in Manipur. The state will now go to first phase of elections on February 28 and second phase on March 5.
Express photographers Abhinav Saha and Praveen Khanna brings to you exclusive photographs from the UP consituencies that went to polls in the first phase of assembly elections. See more here
Following the path of Samajwadi Party, the Congress also fielded a Brahmin woman candidate against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the Gorakhpur Urban Assembly seat.
The party named 37-year-old Chetna Pandey as its nominee in Gorakhpur Urban. A poet and singer, Pandey is the former vice-president of the student union at Gorakhpur University and has been active in the region’s social sphere. In the 2017 Assembly polls, she had contested as an Independent in the Shahjanwa constituency, but gathered only 2200 votes. This time, with the backing of the Congress, she hopes to make an impact against the outgoing chief minister. Read more
Upendra Dutt Shukla started out with the RSS student wing ABVP, went on to serve in the BJP for over 40 years, was the party’s in-charge of Gorakhpur region, then its Uttar Pradesh vice-president, and even stepped in to contest the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat when Yogi Adityanath gave it up to become Chief Minister.
If not all of this, what else to make them eligible for a ticket after Shukla’s death in 2020, is the question his family is asking. Denied one, the family moved to the Samajwadi Party. Come March 6, the wife of one of the oldest BJP faces in Gorakhpur, Subhavati Shukla, will be taking on one of the party’s biggest, Adityanath, from Gorakhpur Urban Assembly seat. Read more
A 59.61% voter turnout was recorded in the first phase pf UP elections that concluded at 6 pm on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has revised the dates of assembly polls in Manipur. The state will now go to first phase of elections on February 28 and second phase on March 5.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Thursday urged the Election Commission to take immediate action wherever there are allegations of EVM glitch or slow polling in the first phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Additional Chief Election Officer (ACEO) B D Ram Tiwari said the voting process is going on peacefully while adding there were reports of a technical error in EVMs at a few places. “Those EVMs are being replaced,” news agency quoted Tiwari as saying. As many as 623 candidates are in the fray and around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.
Voters cast their votes in the first phase of assembly elections at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress on Thursday of abusing General Bipin Rawat when he was alive and using his cut-outs now for votes.
Addressing a rally in Uttarakhand's Srinagar ahead of the February 14 state Assembly polls, Modi said it is the same Congress that had asked for proof of surgical strikes against terror hideouts in Pakistan.
He said a leader of the party had even called former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Rawat a "streetside hooligan".
Describing the Congress as a party with a single-minded pursuit for power, the prime minister said it can never understand the price of "sacrifices". --PTI
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday pointed out that there is "strength in our Union" and asked not to insult the spirit of India.
The first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections witnessed a voter turnout of 48.24 per cent till 1 pm.
An FIR was registered on Thursday against a Muslim man who allegedly made an announcement on a loudspeaker atop a mosque in Lubuxur village, Meerut, appealing to people to vote in favour of the ‘bicycle’, the official election symbol of the Samajwadi Party.
The village is a part of the Kithore assembly segment in Meerut where minister Shahid Manzoor (SP) is pitted against BJP’s sitting MLA Satyaveer Tyagi while Babita Gurjar and Kushalpal Mavi respectively are fielded by the Congress and the BSP. Read full story here
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he is not afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or 'his enforcement agencies' and finds his 'arrogance' amusing.
The Congress leader said the BJP changed its chief ministers in Uttarakhand as they were all corrupt and 'replaced one thief with another'.
Addressing a rally at Manglaur in Haridwar district ahead of the assembly polls in the state, Gandhi said, 'Modi said in a an interview recently that I don't listen to him. He was right. I don't listen to him because I am not afraid of him or his CBI and ED.'
He said the three farm laws were withdrawn only because of the country's farmers and the Congress. --PTI
Speaking of RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, BJP national president J P Nadda said, "Today, a leader did not cast his vote. It shows their dynastic arrogance. The power of democracy gives answers to such people."
As the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh polls kicked off Lakshmi Goswami, a resident of Jewar, said: “Private education is very costly and government schools are not up to the mark. I have three children and I end up paying over Rs 3,000 as school fees. My husband works as a helper in a shop and hence, the earnings are limited.” (From Abhinav Rajput)
The polling booth in Jewar witnessed over 40 per cent voter turnout till 2 pm. (From Abhinav Rajput)
In Mathura, long queues were seen as people waited to exercise their franchise. (From Amil Bhatnagar)
Wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, popularly known as The Great Khali, on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at its headquarters in Delhi.
He joined the party in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Arun Singh, MoS Jitendra Singh and Lok Sabha MP Sunita Duggal. “I’m glad to have joined BJP… I feel that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work for the nation makes him the right PM. So, I thought why not be a part of his governance for the nation’s development. I joined the party after being influenced by the BJP’s national policy,” Rana was quoted as saying by ANI.
The first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections witnessed a voter turnout of 35.03 per cent till 1 pm.
A first-time voter, Shubhangi ,19, is pursuing her final year at Dehli University's Dayal Singh College. 'I voted in favour of the party which can give us jobs not promises, stable economy instead of full-page advertisements and can ensure justice for all, regardless of the caste, creed and community,” she said. (From Amit Mehra)
"I'm a voter of Mathura. Right now, we're in Bijnor as there are just two days remaining for campaigning between the first and second rounds of the Uttar Pradesh polls. My wife voted in the morning. After campaigning ends here, I'll try to vote at booths open till 6 pm," RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary said.