August 17, 2026 05:24 pm (IST)
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UP elections 2022
First phase of UP assembly polls sees 60.17 pct voters' turnout today, slightly lower than 2017
Lucknow/IBNS: The first of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh assembly election witnessed a 60.17 per cent voters' turnout on Thursday.
Polling for the 58 seats in western UP recorded a slightly lower voters' turnout, than that of 63.5 per cent in 2017.
Voting was reported to be peaceful except for some complaints of EVM and VVPAT malfunction earlier in the day. Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said they were addressed immediately.
In the first phase, 58 of the total 403 seats from western Uttar Pradesh went to the polls with 623 candidates including 73 women being thrown into the battle.
To breach BJP's fort in western Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have forged an alliance, which will be put to test in the first phase.
The polls saw a face to face contest between BJP and SP-RLD alliance around three dozen seats, whereas there is a triangular fight on nearly two dozen seats where all BJP, SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have fielded strong candidates.
From the trends of the election campaign coming out so far and the challenge being posed by the SP-RLD alliance, it is being speculated that repeating the results of the 2017 assembly polls will not be an easy task for the BJP.
To counter the challenge posed by the alliance, BJP had denied tickets to its 19 sitting MLAs and have fielded fresh faces.
Besides, BJP has also given tickets to three leaders, who quit former Chief Minister Mayawati's BSP to join the saffron brigade.
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