2024 Election Phase 1: The average voter turnout in UP today was 25.2%.

Lucknow:

In the first four hours of today’s polling, the average voter turnout in all eight assembly constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh, which are voting in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, was 25.20 per cent.

Voting started at 7 am and according to the Election Commission, the turnout till 11 am was 29.84% in Saharanpur, 23.35% in Moradabad, 25.89% in Kairana and 26.89% in Nagina %, Pilibhit is 26.94%, 25.50% Bijnor is 20.71%, Rampur is 20.71% and Muzaffarnagar is 22.62%.

These seats are located in the Jat and sugarcane belts of the state.

Notable candidates in this phase of the race include Jitin Prasada of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Pilibhit, Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan from Muzaffarnagar and Azad Samaj Party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad from Nagina.

The ruling Janata Party has joined hands with the Janata Party, while the Samajwadi Party has entered into an alliance with the Congress for the elections. The Bahujan Samaj Party decided to go it alone.

A total of 80 candidates competed in the first phase, including 73 men and 7 women.

The Electoral Commission (EC) said that 1.43 billion people are eligible to vote in the first phase.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said voting was underway at 14,849 polling stations.

To ensure security, 6,018 inspectors and sub-inspectors, 35,750 police personnel and 24,992 home guards, along with 60 companies of the Provincial Armed Police Force (PAC) and 220 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), have been deployed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)