10% voter turnout in UP assembly polls till 9 AM

Voting for the last phase covering 40 seats in Uttar Pradesh and 22 Assembly constituencies in Manipur began on Wednesday, with all eyes on the Prime Minister's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.Around 10 per cent of voter turnout was recorded in Uttar Pradesh till 9 AM.

Prominent candidates who are in fray include former Cabinet minister Om Prakash, Parasnath Yadav, Ajay Rai, former MP Dhananjay Singh, Sigbatullah Ansari brother of Mukhtar Ansari and Seema Singh wife of jailed mafia Munna Bajrangi.

A total of 1.41 crore voters, including 64.76 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 14,458 polling booths and 8,682 polling centres to decide fate of 585 candidates, including 51 women.

Three Naxal-affected districts of Sonbhadra, Mirzapur and Chandauli, along with the five Assembly segments under Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, will be in prime focus. Ghazipur, Jaunpur and Bhadoi are the other districts where polling is going on in this phase. Tight security has been put in place in these seven districts.Polling will



be held between 7 AM to 5 PM in all constituencies, except the Naxal-hit Duddhi, Robertsganj and Chakia seats, where polling will end at 4 PM.

Polling in 22 Assembly seats in the last phase of Assembly elections in Manipur, with focus on Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh's Assembly seat Thoubal where he faces challenge by rights activist Irom Sharmila, began at 7 AM today amid tight security. 21 per cent of voter turnout was recorded till 9 AM.

A total of 98 contestants will vie for the 22 seats spread across the valley districts of Thoubal and the hill districts of Ukhrul, Chandel, Tamenglong and Senapati.The state has a 19,02,562-strong electorate comprising 9,28,573 male voters and 9,73,989 female voters. There are around 45,642 new voters.

As many as 1,151 polling stations have been set up for the second and last phase of election to the 60-member Assembly.

The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangement by deploying 280 companies of central police forces to keep the election free and fair.