45.07% voting till 3 pm in 14 Lok Sabha seats of UP

Lucknow, May 6 Over 45 percent voter turnout was recorded Monday till 3 pm in 14 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh where Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, UPA administrator Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are in the fight.

Among early voters in the state capital included Home Minister Singh, BSP supremo Mayawati, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, DGP OP Singh and Principal Secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar.

Election Commission of India authorities here said polling was going on easily, barring some complaints of EVM malfunctioning which were attended to immediately.

Union minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party's Amethi competitor Irani claimed that the Congress president was "guaranteeing stall catching" in the constituency.

"Alert @ECISVEEP Congress President @Rahul Gandhi guaranteeing booth capturing," Irani said on Twitter.

She also tagged a video in which an elderly women is seen alleging that her hand was forcibly put on 'panja' (hand), race image of the Congress, however she needed to vote in favor of the 'kamal' (lotus), the BJP's symbol.

However, there is no written complaint on the matter.

Till 3 pm, 45.07 percent polling was seen in the state, EC authorities said.

Most extreme 50.32 percent casting a ballot was seen in Sitapur, while Lucknow recorded 43.07 percent casting a ballot.

Rae Bareli and Amethi saw 42.68 percent and 41.92 percent turnout respectively, the authorities said.

The BJP had sacked 12 of the 14 seats in 2014 with the Congress winning Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Polling was underway in Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj and Gonda constituencies where a total of 182 candidates are in the fray.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is challenging on five seats - Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur and Kaisarganj.

Its partner Samajwadi Party (SP) is battling on seven seats - Lucknow, Banda, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda.

In Amethi and Rae Bareli, the SP-BSP coalition has not set up any applicant, leaving the two supporters for the Congress.

The Union Home Minister is looking for re-appointment from Lucknow, while his associate at the Center Irani is again taking on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

In the Faizabad parliamentary voting demographic, under which the temple town of Ayodhya falls, sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh is taking on Nirmal Khatri of the Congress. Khatri is a previous Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief.

Former Union minister and Congress candidate Jitin Prasad is contesting from Dhaurahra against previous Chambal rascal Malkhan Singh.

In Lucknow, the SP has set Poonam Sinha, spouse of on-screen character turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, as the joint 'mahagathbandhan' candidate against Rajnath Singh.