Lucknow, April 9 : Around 98.11 per cent votes out of 1,20,657 votes were polled for 27 local bodies constituencies seats of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council on Saturday. Polling, which started at 8 am, closed at 4 pm. Counting of the votes will be done on April 12 and the results will be announced on the same day. The Joint Chief Electoral Officer (JCEO) said that maximum 99.35 per cent votes were polled in Rae Bareli. Among other districts, 97 per cent votes were polled in Moradabad, 97.37 per cent in Bareilly, 97.38 per cent in Shahjahanpur, 99.2 per cent in Sitapur, 98.9 per cent in Lucknow, 99.25 per cent in Pratapgarh, 98.77 per cent in Sultanpur, 99.16 per cent in Barabanki, 98.91 per cent in Bahraich, 98.28 per cent in Gonda, 98.44 per cent in Ayodhya and 97.18 per cent in Basti. Similarly, 96.5 per cent votes were polled in Gorakhpur, 98.11 per cent in Deoria, 98.42 per cent in Azamgarh, 98.25 per cent in Ballia, 98.88 per cent in Ghazipur, 98.28 per cent in Jaunpur, 98.52 per cent in Varanasi, 97.96 per cent in Prayagraj, 98.9 per cent in Jhansi, 97.2 per cent in Fatehpur, 96.65 per cent in Farrukhabad, 98.06 per cent in Agra, 97.43 per cent in Meerut and 96.69 per cent in Saharanpur. In Farrukhabad, police used mild force to disperse Samajwadi Party (SP) workers after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker was slapped by the supporter of an SP candidate in Mohammadabad. Police sources said that BJP supporter Brijesh Dubey was slapped by an SP worker during polling. Agitated with the incident, BJP workers sat on the road and staged dharna, they said. Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashok Kumar Meena said that there was a minor scuffle between the two groups and they were later chased away by police. Prominent among those who exercised their franchise include Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who cast his vote in Gorakhpur, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya in Prayagraj, SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav in Etawah, on Minister Smriti Irani in Amethi, on Minister SPS Baghel in Agra, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) president Shivpal Singh Yadav in Etawah and former Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma in Lucknow. TEAM AB RJ
