UP polls: 60.1 per cent turnout in 6th phase

LUCKNOW: Over 60 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the sixth and penultimate phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections for 68 seats spread over 13 districts of the western Jat belt of the state, where the Congress-RLD combine faces a litmus test.

While voting was by and large peaceful, election officials in Delhi and Lucknow said "barring minor incidents, polling process was peacefully over at 5 PM."

"A total of 60.1 per cent voters out of an electorate of 2.15 crore cast their vote in the sixth phase of polling till 5 PM," UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said in Lucknow.

In Delhi, an election official said, "The turnout shows an increase of around 29 per cent as compared to the previous assembly polls in 2007."

The last assembly polls in these districts had recorded a turnout of 46.58 per cent.

In the sixth phase of polling, Saharanpur district recorded a maximum turnout of 64.7 per cent followed by Mathura district which recorded a polling percentage of 63.3 per cent, Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi said.

The fate of 1,103 candidates, including 86 women, will be decided in today's polls.

Voters in village Hussain Malikpur under Behat assembly constituency in Saharanpur district boycotted the poll and no vote was polled at polling booth number 106, Zutshi said, adding that the villagers were protesting against inadequate drainage of water in the area.