UP elections 2017 phase 1 round-up: Polling mostly peaceful amid 64% voter turnout

Polling in the first phase of elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was mostly peaceful on Saturday, February 11, with the Election Commission (EC) ensuring that strict security measures stopped any untoward incidents from taking place. In all, 64.22 percent of around 2.6 crore voters exercised their franchise on Saturday, sealing the fate of 839 candidates – 77 of them women – across 73 Assembly constituencies.

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Voting started sharp at 7 am on Saturday across 26,823 polling stations, with the electoral process being delayed at a handful of poll booths due to malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs). However, the EC had already planned for such eventualities, and polling got underway at these booths as soon as the faulty EVMs were replaced.

Speaking after polling hours, EC officials told reporters that webcasting of the poll process was done in 2,857 places in the first phase, and 3,888 digital and video cameras were used for the process.

The EC officials also said that they had identified 2,96,906 potential troublemakers in this phase, and "preventive actions were taken against them" to ensure that polling was smooth and without incident. However, there were some stray instances that threatened to disrupt polling, like BJP leader Sangeet Som's brother Gagan being detained by the police because he had brought a gun to the polling booth.

The poll panel officials also said that they had thwarted several attempts by political parties and individuals to bribe voters before the election. They said they had seized Rs 19.56 crore cash, 4.44 lakh litres of alcohol which is worth Rs 14 crore, narcotics worth Rs 96.93 lakh, and gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 14 crore in the run-up to the first phase of polling in UP. They added that they had also identified 13 instances in which news outlets had published paid news, "out of which 10 have been confirmed."

The next phase of the UP Assembly polls will be held on February 15. It will coincide with the Uttarakhand Assembly elections. The results of all the polling will be announced on March 11, when counting takes place.