Moderate turnout in Uttar Pradesh by-polls

Lucknow, Nov 7 : An average of 49.37 percent voting was recorded in by-elections to 11 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh Saturday while the turnout in Firozabad parliamentary seat was over 50 percent, officials said.

In Firozabad, where actor Raj Babbar of the Congress is pitted against Dimple Yadav, the daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, the total turnout was 53.5 percent.

The lowest turnout (28 percent) was recorded in the state capital's Lucknow West assembly seat, while the highest (60 percent) was recorded in Lalitpur.

The other seats where polling was held were Puwayan (Shahjahanpur), Isauli (Sultanpur), Hainsar Bazar (Sant Kabir Nagar), Padrauna (Kushinagar), Kolasala (Varanasi), Rari (Jaunpur), Etawah, Bhartana (Etawah) and Jhansi.

The by-polls followed resignations by 10 legislators and the death of another.

As many as 4.9 million voters were eligible to vote Saturday. A total 2,300 micro observers were deployed in and around 5,616 polling stations, which were monitored by some 2,200 digital and 700 video cameras.

--IANS