Lucknow, May 12 (IANS) Brisk balloting took place Monday in Uttar Pradesh's 18 parliamentary seats as a controversy broke out in Varanasi where Congress candidate Ajay Rai walked into a polling station with the party symbol pinned to his kurta.
Polling in 18 parliamentary constituencies is underway peacefully, officials said.
There were complaints of some technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
A large turnout has been reported from most places, a poll panel official said.
On an average 10.38 percent voting has been reported from the 18 constituencies that are balloting Monday.
In Varanasi, from where BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narenda Modi is pitted against Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, 18 percent voting was reported till 10 a.m.
A controversy broke out in Varanasi when Ajay Rai, Congress candidate, walked into a polling station to vote with the party symbol tucked on his kurta.
Election law bans the use of any party symbol within 100 metres of the poll station. Officials in the district say the Congress candidate had indeed violated the law.
He was accompanied by his wife and he spoke to reporters within 10 metres of the polling station, which again is a breach of law.
Senior district officials told IANS that the returning officer has sought video footage and that action would follow soon.
At Dumariyaganj, voting till 9 a.m. was 11.56 percent, Maharajganj 11.60 percent, Gorakhpur 11.80 percent and 10.60 percent in Kushinagar.
In Deoria, where BJP's senior leader Kalraj Mishra is contesting the polls, 11.60 percent people have cast their votes till 9 a.m. In Basgaon, the polling percentage in the first two hours was 10.90 percent, 10 percent in Lalganj and 9.20 percent in Ghosi.
In Salempur, the voting percentage was 9 while it was 10.36 percent in Ballia. It was 10.20 percent voter turnout in Jaunpur from where Bhojpuri film star Ravi Kishen is contesting on a Congress ticket.
The slowest polling was recorded from Azamgarh, the seat from where Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is pitted against BJP's Ramakant Yadav.
The district administration has prepared the blueprint of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's route in
Tuesday is a historic day for the Supreme Court. From today people will be able to watch live str
Realme's cheapest 5G phone, run well but will not hang!
realme narzo 50 5G On Amazon: You can buy a realme narzo 50 5G phone from Amazon very cheap. The
Today the birth anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is being cel
New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) US President Barack Obama Sunday greeted the news conference here in Hi
After winning the T20 World Cup 2024 title, Rohit Sharma retired from T20. After this, the discus
Actor Sunny Deol, who got his two and a half kilos of iron in Bollywood, is making a lot of headl
A Sikh student was detained in the US for wearing a kirpan. This case of misconduct by the US pol
Vishwas Comments on Bedi Trigger Slugfest (Roundup)
New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) AAP leader Kumar Vishwas's claim Friday that Kiran Bedi was soft on th
Opinion of five countries: 'Nuclear war can never be won, never fought', Kremlin issued a statement
Five superpower countries are seen united to save the world from nuclear disaster. These five nuc
