Scoring over 60% voter turnout, polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in the Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh in the third phase ended on an acrimonious note on Tuesday with wife of Samajwadi heavyweight candidate Azam Khan defending remarks made against rival BJP candidate Jaya Prada by her husband and the son, Abdullah Azam Khan.
Besides Khan and Jaya Prada, among the prominent leaders in fray are four members of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's extended family – Mulayam himself from Mainpuri, and nephews Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav pitted against each other in Badaun.
Mulayam's cousin Ramgopal, Akshay Yadav is fighting SP patriarch's brother Shivpal Yadav in Firozabad. Shivpal had floated a new political outfit, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) after falling out with Akhilesh Yadav.
Among prominent BJP candidates is Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit, who exchanged his Sultanpur seat with mother Maneka Gandhi and veteran many Lok Sabha wins union minister Santosh Gangwar in Bareilly. The BJP has a tough challenge to repeat its 2014 performance against Mahagathbandhan. In 2014 the BJP had won seven of these 10 seats.
Several cases of EVM malfunctioning and snags were reported in UP on Tuesday, especially in Sambhal, Rampur and Pilibhit. A report from Sambhal said some EVMs developed snags in Chandausi and Asmoli assembly segments of the Aonla LS seat.
In Pilibhit, polling in Kukrikheda started late by about an hour due to faulty EVMs while at a booth in Etah zila panchayat, presiding officer Yogesh Kumar was removed being accused of forcing people to cast votes in favour of the SP.
SP leader and former chairman of Bhargain Nagar Panchayat, Ahmed Nafis, was taken into custody in Kasganj in Etah after authorities anticipated a breach of peace.
The SP lodged a complaint about the alleged malfunctioning of EVMs with the Election Commission, terming it criminal negligence.
Abdullah Azam Khan alleged around 300 EVMs malfunctioned in Rampur alone.
Uttar Pradesh
- 60.52% polling
- 10/80 seats
