With the turnout rising to an average of nearly 50 per cent on Thursday's fourth phase poll in Uttar Pradesh, voters of Western UP have clearly displayed more enthusiasm in comparison to the three preceding phases of polling to elect the country's next government .
Not only were several political bigwigs and many multi-millionaires in the fray for this round, but this was the biggest voting exercise ever since polling in the five-phased election.
As many as 314 candidates were battling it out for the 18 constituencies spread over 20 districts, and 2.56 crore voters expected to exercise their franchise under the vigilant eye of nearly 2 lakh security personnel who were detailed to man 29312 polling stations equipped with 29,649 EVMs.
The highest voting of 53 per cent was recorded in Mathura, that had acquired much significance largely on account of the presence Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh's son Jayant Singh ,who was seeking his debut entry into the national parliament.
The lowest turnout was reported from Agra, where only 41.5 per cent voters stepped out of their homes to exercise their franchise.
Another key constituency, Kannauj from where Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav was trying his luck, recorded a relatively higher voting percentage of 51, though the adjoining Firozabad from where he was also in the fry , witnessed a low turnout of just 45 per cent.
However, their fathers failed to attract as impressive a turnout of voters in their respective constituencies. While Ajit Singh's traditional political bastion , Bagpat registered a low voting of 46.4 per cent , Mulayam Singh Yadav's Mainpuri constituency recorded a turnout of 49 per cent .
Ghaziabad , from where Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Raj Nath Singh was in the fray, showed a turnout of 46 per cent , but Fatehpur Sikri - with film star turned politician Raj Babbar in the scene witnessed an impressive turnout of 52 per cent .
Other than minor sporadic incidents of disruption in the polling process largely on account of temporary faults in the EVMs , no untoward incident was reported from any part of the vast region that went to poll .
The only noticeable incident took place in Mainpuri where a visibly jittery Mulayam SinghYadav took offence to a poll observer's objection to the entry of his security men inside the polling station.
Initial reports about Bharatiya Janata party rebel Kalyan Singh's name missing from the voter's list were, however, later dismissed by the Election Commission.
According to reports, what angered Mulayam was observer Malay Amitash's remark that as per the rules, only one of his black cat commandos could be allowed to accompany him inside the polling station ."Hume kanoon mat sikhao ; hum chief minister rah chuke hain is pradeh ke" (dont teach me law ; I have been chief minister of this state),Mulayam sought to snub the official.
As if that was not enough, the SP chief sought to intimidate him further by demanding to know which cadre the officer belonged to. Pat came the reply, "I am from the Karnataka cadre and I am here on election duty", leaving Mulayam nonplussed.
Even as the polite official succeeded in calming down Mulayam , the three-time former chief minister came out of the polling station to declare before TV cameras, "I will support only such a dispensation which promises to dismiss the Mayawati government in the state here."
He also went about boasting, "No party or alliance would be in a position to form the next government at the Centre without the support of Samajwadi Party."
As if to substantiate his proclamation, he went on to add, "We saved the UPA government by extending our support to it on the nuclear deal ; and the Congress ought to remember that if it was surviving today, it was solely on account of us."
Obviously in an irritated mood, Mulayam also questioned the deployment of armed Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) soldiers in proximity of the EVMs . "Why are the ITBP cops standing so close to the EVM machines and why were they standing so close to voters, particularly women ? Wasn't that very intimidating ?" , he asked .
