Uttar Pradesh by-elections witness poor turnout

Voter turnout was poor in by-elections for the Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, officials said.According to Election Commission (EC) officials, 43% voters had exercised their franchise in Gorakhpur while it was just 38% for the Phulpur seat in Allahabad.The balloting percentage in Gorakhpur, represented in the Lok Sabha by Yogi Adityanath before he became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, in 2014 was 54.64%.Phulpur, represented by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya before his election to the Legislative Council, had logged 50% voting in the 2014 general elections.In Phulpur, the poorest polling yesterday was reported from Allahabad (East) where only 21.65% voters turned up, followed by Allahabad (West) with 31%.Snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were reported from some places. Polling was held up at Kidwai College in Allahabad (East) for some time due to a technical glitch.In Gorakhpur, the lowest voter turnout of 33% was in Gorakhpur city, and the highest was 47% in Sahjanwa and Campierganj.Both Adityanath and Maurya claimed victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates, irrespective of the voter turnout in the two seats.After casting his vote, a beaming Adityanath told reporters that the “BJP continues to get a groundswell of public support since they are witnessing development, peace and prosperity under its government”.He also denied the influence of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance on the results.“This is an unholy and opportunistic alliance and the people know their real agenda very well and will thus defeat them emphatically,” the chief minister said.