Uttar Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 60.1 per cent in the third of the seven phase polls in the state while Punjab reported 63 per cent polling. The average voter turnout for the single-phase election to the 117-member assembly in Punjab was 63.44 per cent, according to the state chief electoral office, while in Uttar Pradesh, where 59 constituencies went to polls in phase three, it was 60.63 per cent.
the Election Commission on Sunday issued a notice to a BJP candidate in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly making an inflammatory statement, and said he prima facie violated the model code and the electoral law. The poll watchdog gave Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh, the BJP candidate from the Tiloi assembly constituency in Amethi, 24 hours to respond.
Counting of votes in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, along with Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, will take place on March 10.
meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted rivals Samajwadi Party and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh today, adding to allegations that the parties are soft on terror. Pointing to the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts, which claimed 56 lives and left over 200 people injured, he said some parties are sympathetic to terrorists. Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party is the BJP’s biggest challenger it the state where the third phase of elections are being held today.
Speaking at a rally in Hardoi, he accused the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh government of seeking to withdraw cases against terrorists.
“The attitude of the leaders of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress has been even more alarming. These people address a terrorist like Osama as ‘ji’. These people shed tears over the elimination of terrorists in Batla House encounter,” he said.
“Similarly, in 14 cases of terrorist attacks in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi government had given orders to withdraw the cases from many terrorists. These people were setting off blast after blast, and the Samajwadi Party government was not even allowing these terrorists to be prosecuted,” he added.
The BJP has traditionally accused the Congress of appeasement politics because of its sizeable Muslim support base. Once this support shifted to the Samajwadi Party, the barbs got sharper.
