LUCKNOW: A total of 61 constituencies across 12 districts covering the politico-cultural belt of Hindutva from Ayodhya to Prayagraj and from Bahraich, bordering Nepal, to Chitrakoot in bandit land, recorded less than a moderate – 54.98 per cent -- turnout of voters in the fifth phase on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a person was killed and another hurt when a blast took place in Kareli locality under Kareli police station area in Prayagraj when the voting was on Sunday afternoon.
However, the voting continued till 6 pm and the final figures will be revised by the state election commission on Monday.
The voters’ turn out in fifth phase of the current elections is lower than the corresponding phase of 2017 Assembly polls as it was 58.24 per cent. As per the trend, the districts voting under the fifth phase have a low percentage record.
In the fifth phase, of 61 seats up for grabs across Prayagaraj, Amethi, Ayodhya, Barabanki, Bahraich, Chitrakoot, Gonda, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Raebareli, Shravasti and Sultanpur, 50 were bagged by the ruling BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) of Anupriya Patel.
The Samajwadi Party had won five seats, two were won by the BSP, one by th Congress and two independents – Raja Bhaiyya from Kunda and Vinod Saroj from Babaganj.
While the voters of Prayagraj seemed to be in a holiday mood on Sunday registering the lowest 51.99 per cent voting till 5 pm, Raebareli witnessed the highest turnout logging 60.66 percent. Even Chitrakoot recorded a better turnout of voters than other districts registering a second highest at 59.64 per cent.
However, in Ayodhya, only 58.01 per cent of voters exercised their franchise and it was lower than voting percentage of 2017 when the temple town had recorded over 60 per cent turnout.
In phase-5, fate of total 693 candidates was sealed in the EVMs. Around 2.24 crore voters were eligible to cast their vote to elect their favourite MLA.
The prominent names in fray in phase –V included six Yogi ministers – Deputy CM Keshav Maurya, Siddharthnath Singh, Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, Moti Singh, Ramapati Shastri, and Chandrika Prasad Updhyaya.
Moreover, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, who had been winning Kunda seat in Pratapgarh as an independent continuously since 1993, was again in fray from the same seat but facing a challenge from his erstwhile right hand man Gulshan Yadav who was fielded by SP.
Moreover, during the voting in Kunda on Sunday, there was a minor attack on the convoy of Yadav who accused Raja Bhaiyya of orchestrating it.
Meanwhile, towards the evening, a 21-year-old youth was killed and another hurt when a blast took place in Kareli locality under Kareli police station area in Prayagraj on Sunday afternoon.
The person, who lost life in the explosion, was identified as Arjun Kol and the one who sustained grievous injuries is Arjun’s brother Sanjay Kol.
According to Prayagraj SSP Ajay Kumar, both were riding a cycle with a bag, containing a suspected explosive. "Suddenly, the bag fell on the ground setting off the explosion," said the cop.
In the explosion, Arjun lost his life and Sanjay was severely hurt. However, the SSP claimed that Sanjay was detained and was being interrogated to ascertain the reason as to why the two were carrying explosive in the bag, their motive and from where did they procure it.
The district police took the cycle in their possession for forensic examination.
However, the police personnel denied any link between the explosion and polls saying that further probe was on.