Janjivan Bureau / Lucknow : An average voter turnout of 60.44 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Monday in Uttar Pradesh as polling for the second phase of the state assembly elections picked up pace after a slow start.
Voting kicked off in 55 assembly seats spread across nine districts at 7 am.
Additional Chief Election Officer Brahma Dev Ram Tiwari said polling in the state had been peaceful so far.
The first two hours of polling saw fewer voters reaching polling booths owing to fog and cold conditions. But as the day progressed, more and more voters stepped out of their homes to exercise their franchise.
As many as 586 candidates are in the fray in this phase.
The 55 seats are spread across Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Amroha, Budaun, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur districts.
Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav appealed to voters to support the party.
“I appeal that you lend your valuable support to the Samajwadi Party to help it win with a huge mandate. Ensure victory of SP candidates in the second phase and all other upcoming phases,” Yadav, who is in Delhi, said in a brief video message.
This was the first election-related message to voters from the 83-year-old leader in this poll campaign. Earlier, he had addressed party workers in Lucknow.
Of the 55 seats in which voting is being held in the second phase, the BJP had won 38 in the 2017 Assembly polls, the SP bagged 15 and the Congress two. The SP and the Congress had contested the last assembly elections together.
