Voting held in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa in high-stakes poll contest: Top 5 points

The Assembly elections in Goa and Uttarakhand on Monday reported 78.94 per cent and 59.51 per cent voter turnout respectively, as per the Election Commission’s figures till 8 pm, while Uttar Pradesh’s second phase logged 61.72 per cent turnout.

People queue up to cast their votes, in Sambhal on Monday. (PTI Photo)

Goa, Uttarakhand and 55 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh voted on Monday in a high-stakes election for the ruling BJP and a litmus test for the Modi government’s policies that have been targeted by Congress, AAP and other opposition parties during their campaign. The coastal state of Goa, with over 11 lakh voters, had 301 candidates contesting from 40 Assembly seats, while in Uttarakhand, which has an electorate of 81 lakh, 632 candidates, including 152 independents, were fighting from 70 seats.

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Forty seats of Goa and 70 seats of the hill state went to polls on Monday. In Uttarakhand, riding the Narendra Modi wave, the BJP managed to win 57 of the total 70 Assembly seats in 2017, while the Congress was limited to 11 seats. Two of the remaining seats were won by Independent candidates who are now with the ruling party.

Here are the Top 5 points of today’s polling:

The Assembly elections in Goa and Uttarakhand on Monday reported 78.94 per cent and 59.51 per cent voter turnout respectively, as per the Election Commission’s figures till 8 pm, while Uttar Pradesh’s second phase logged 61.72 per cent turnout. More than 2.95 crore people voted at 36,823 polling stations spread across 165 constituencies in Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
A 55-year-old returning officer posted on election duty in Nakur assembly constituency died following a cardiac arrest, a senior official said on Monday. District Election Officer of Saharanpur Akhilesh Singh told PTI that the health of returning officer Rashid Ali, who was posted at a polling booth in Dhikka Tapri village, deteriorated suddenly on Sunday night. Ali was rushed to a private hospital in Saharanpur where he died around 1.30 am, the DEO said. He said that Ali had reached the place on Sunday evening.
BJP leader Harendra Kumar said he was attacked by Samajwadi Party workers when he, along with his associates, were returning home in Sambhal. The police said Samajwadi Party workers attacked the 39-year-old BJP candidate and his associates when the Election Commission’s flying squad team was checking their vehicle near the Kherni police outpost. The assailants also attacked the police team when they tried to intervene, injuring three officials.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while addressing reporters, said he was confident that the party will win over 300 seats in the ongoing elections. When asked about comments like “those with Ali vs Bajrangbali” and “80 vs 20”, Adityanath said, “It’s a reaction to an action. I spoke about 80 vs 20. 80 per cent support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while 20 per cent always oppose. We haven’t spoken about caste or religion.” In UP, patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav appealed to voters to support the party. “I appeal that you lend your valuable support to the Samajwadi Party to help it win with a huge mandate. Ensure victory of SP candidates in the second phase and all other upcoming phases,” Yadav, who is in Delhi, said in a brief video message. This was the 83-year-old leader’s first election-related message to voters in this poll campaign. Earlier, he had addressed party workers in Lucknow.
A 100-year-old woman was among the voters who turned up at Booth Number 47 in Kotdwar to exercise their franchise as Uttarakhand went to polls on Monday. “I am 100 years old. I have voted in all the elections since I attained the age of voting. I like to vote,” Vishweshwari Devi Naudiyal told reporters even as she stretched her voting finger to show the indelible ink mark. Clad in a yellow saree, Naudiyal walked about 200 metres from her house to the polling booth with some help from her great-grandchildren. “We advised her not to venture out if she was not too keen. But she insisted otherwise,” one of her great-grandsons said.