Uttar Pradesh reported a voter turnout of 61 per cent in the 53 Assembly constituencies in 12 districts that went to the polls on Thursday.

In the 2012 elections, these constituencies had reported a polling percentage of 60 per cent, while they reported a turnout of 57 per cent during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

“Elections during the fourth phase on Thursday passed peacefully,” Deputy Election Commissioner Vijay Dev told the media. A total of 1.84 crore voters were entitled to exercise their franchise in this phase of the elections, while there were 680 candidates in the fray.

“The Commission used over 21,000 Control Units and over 23,000 Ballot Units while Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was used in three Assembly constituencies during this phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh. The Commission had to replace 140 Electronic Voting Machines or 0.65 per cent of the EVMs used while 145 VVPAT or 8.24 per cent of those used needed to be replaced,” Dev added.

In Bundelkhand, the main battle is between the BJP and the BSP. In Rae Bareilly, the SP-Congress alliance has witnessed “friendly contests”.

In star contests, the son of former Opposition leader Swami Prasad Maurya, Utkarsh Maurya, is contesting against Minister Manoj Pande of the SP and Ajai Pal Singh of the Congress for the Ucchahar seat. Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who is known for his alleged involvement in criminal activities is contesting the Kunda (Pratapgarh) seat. Leader of Opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar is contesting on the Naraini (Banda) seat, considered a BSP stronghold.

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