An estimated 55 per cent of voters of the total 1.67 crore electorate exercised their franchise for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in 8 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh on Friday. No untoward incident was reported from anyplace in the state.

The voting started at a brisk note but due to heatwave conditions, it became dull during afternoon.

Till 1700 hrs, the voting in the eight constituencies was 52.74 per cent which was 44.13 per cent upto 1500hrs, 35.73 per cent at 1300hrs, 24.31 per cent at 1100 hrs and 11.67 per cent at 0900 hrs.

However, all efforts of the ECI and authorities went in vain as the voting percentage did not cross even 60.

In the first phase polls held on April 19, the average voting percentage was around 61.

With the culmination of the second phase polls, the electoral fate of two Bollywood stars — Hema Malini from Mathura and Arun Govil from Meerut — was sealed.

A total of 91 candidates were in the fray in the second phase including 10 women.

A total 15 candidates each were trying their luck in Gautam Buddha Nagar and Mathura seats and minimum six candidates were in the fray in Bulandshahr. As many as 12 candidates were contesting in Amroha, eight in Meerut, seven in Baghpat, 14 each in Ghaziabad and Aligarh.

In this phase 23 per cent of the candidates had criminal cases registered against them and 46 per cent were crorepatis.

According to political experts, eyes are on whether BSP MP Girish Chandra can thwart the attempt of sitting BJP MP Bhola Singh to score a hat-trick victory on Bulandshahr seat.

The second phase will also decide whether BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali, who left the ‘elephant'(BSP) ride and took up ‘Panja’ (Congress symbol- hand), will be able to do wonders again on the Amroha seat or not.

It is a test for Ghaziabad BJP MLA Atul Garg in the second phase who was the Minister of State in the first term of the Yogi government.

CEO Navdeep Rinwa said the polling was peaceful with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
He said there were some reports of malfunctioning of EVMs at a couple of booths at the start.The faulty EVMs were replaced immediately, he averred.

However, reports from Meerut, Noida and Ghaziabad said that there was some scuffle between the voters and security personnel, when people wanted to take their mobile phones inside the booths.

There were also reports of poll boycotts by several villages in these eight constituencies in protest over lack of developmental work in their areas.

The report said Amroha constituency polled highest 61.89 per cent till 1700 hrs followed by 55.49 per cent in Meerut, 52.74 per cent in Baghpat, 48.21 per cent in Ghaziabad, 51.66 per cent in Gautam Buddha Nagar, 54.34 per cent in Bulandshahr , 54.36 per cent in Aligarh and lowest 46.96 per cent in Mathura.