The Kairana seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district recorded the highest voter turnout of 75.12 per cent in the first phase of the assembly polls on Thursday.
Kairana bettered its previous polling trends as earlier voting percentage was restricted to about 60 per cent during assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
BJP VERSUS SP IN KAIRANA
Kairana is one of the keenly watched assembly seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election for both the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Samajwadi Party’s Nahid Hasan was up against BJP leader Hukum Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh in Kairana.
Nahid is in prison for his alleged involvement in more than 17 cases. In the election campaign, he was represented by his sister Iqra Chaudhary. She claimed people would vote in favour of the SP-RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) alliance.
Mriganka Singh was confident of making this a do or die election for her.
SLOW POLLING, EVM ISSUE
During the polling in Kairana, there were complaints of irregularities in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) from several polling booths. Voting was reported to have been slow at Kairana’s booth numbers 255 and 254 in Islamia Inter College polling station.
Even as district authorities checked and replaced such machines, voters turned restless while waiting for more than two to three hours to cast their votes.
“We came to vote in the morning. We haven’t even eaten anything. But we have been waiting in line for at least three hours,” said a voter.
Hours after the polling concluded in Kairana, an EVM was found lying inside an unattended vehicle without a number plate. Samajwadi Party polling agents called the SDM (sub-divisional magistrate) to the spot to check the EVM.
The machine was taken to stronghold security in the Mandi area, where upon examination, it was found to be a reserved EVM.
VIOLENCE
Incidents of violence were reported at a polling station in Dhundu Khera, a rural village belt that is dominated by Gujjars.
Some of the voters alleged that they were beaten up when they visited Dhundu Khera polling station to cast their votes. Three people identified as Abeed, Shaukeen and Meherbaan sustained injuries. Another person identified as Shahrukh, who complained to election officers, was allegedly threatened and physically harmed.
