Picture : Twitter / ANI
Voting in the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh polls for 55 Assembly seats spanning the nine districts of Amroha, Bareilly, Bijnor, Badaun, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Sambhal and Shahjahanpur in western Uttar Pradesh ended today. The voter turn out recorded was 60%.
Till 5 pm, Saharanpur recorded a turnout of 67.13 per cent, Bijnor 61.48, Moradabad 64.88, Sambhal 56.93 percent, Rampur 60.30 percent, Amroha 66.19, Budaun 55.91, Bareilly 57.88 and Shahjahanpur 55.25. The overall turnout till then was 60.44 per cent.
The same districts had recorded an average turnout of 65.53 per cent in the 2017 assembly polls and 63.13 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was seen in queue at a polling booth in Rampur.
A turnout of 62.4 per cent was recorded in the first phase of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on February 10.
Prominent candidates include former minister Dharam Singh Saini who joined the SP shortly before the elections and is trying his luck from Nakur. Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna is contesting from Shahjahanpur.
Senior SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan is contesting from his stronghold Rampur and his son Abdullah Azam from the Suar seat. The younger Azam is pitted against Haider Ali Khan, the scion of the Nawabs of Rampur, who is trying his luck on a ticket from the Apna Dal (Sonelal), a BJP ally. He is the grandson of former MP Noor Bano.
UP Minister of State for Jal Shakti Baldev Singh Aulakh is contesting from Bilaspur, Minister of State for Urban Development Mahesh Chandra Gupta from Budaun and Minister of State for Secondary Education Gulab Devi from Chandausi.
I can say confidently that BJP is going to return to power in Uttar Pradesh with 300 plus seats.Trends for the first phase of election show that people have voted for BJP. Today in the second phase people will bless BJP again on the basis of work that has been done, Jitin Prasada was quoted as saying by ANI
