LS polls 2024: Fates of 55 candidates of Allahabad, Phulpur, Pratapgarh sealed
Voting in Prayagraj region's Phulpur, Allahabad, and Pratapgarh parliamentary seats saw a 1.84% dip compared to 2019, with an average turnout of 50.76%.
Voting for electing representatives from Prayagraj region’s Phulpur, Allahabad and Pratapgarh parliamentary seats took place on Saturday amidst sporadic incidents of voting boycott, threats of boycott and allegations of bias by officials.
The three seats recorded an average polling percentage of 50.76% against a polling percentage of 52.36% recorded in 2019—a dip of 1.84%. Around 57.25 lakh voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in these three seats in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls-2024.
Voting in Prayagraj and Pratapgarh districts took place at 5,783 polling booths under 3,024 polling stations.Polling took place in 1,913 booths under 936 polling stations in Allahabad and 2,068 booths under 858 polling stations of Phulpur besides 1,902 polling booths under 1,230 polling stations in Pratapgarh between 7 am and 6 pm, said officials.
While 14 and 15 candidates are in the fray from Allahabad and Phulpur respectively, Pratapgarh has the highest 26 candidates. The Allahabad seat witnessed a decent start with voters in large numbers rushing to polling booths early in the morning before the scorching heat made its presence felt.
By 9am, 9.37% of the total registered 18,25,730 voters (9,88,343 men, 8,37,149 women and 215 third gender people) has cast their vote and the polling percentage reached 23.88% by 11am.
However then with the temperature rising, polling dipped and by 1pm it reached 34.06% before reaching 41.04% by 3m and touching 49.30%-mark by 5pm. By the time the polling concluded, the polling percentage reached 51.75%. In 2019, Allahabad seat had recorded a polling percentage of 51.83% amounting to a fall of 0.08% this time.
In Phulpur, the polling started off slowly with merely 7.45% of the total 20,67,042 registered voters (11,22,020 men, 9,44,827 women and 196 third gender) casting their votes till 9 am. However, it reached 22.85% by 11 am and touched 33.05% by 1pm.
As expected, polling slowed down in the afternoon and could reach 39.46% by 3pm and touching 46.80% mark by 5pm. Polling percentage reached 48.94% by the time polling ended as compared to 48.70% amounting to a rise of 0.24% this time.
On Pratapgarh seat, morning hours witnessed best polling among the three parliamentary seats of Prayagraj region with 12.89% of the 18,33,312 voters (9,70,013 men, 8,62,394 women and five transgender voters) having voted by 9am and the figure reaching 26.35% by 11 am before touching 36.01% by 1pm.
Here too, voting slowed down in the afternoon with polling percentage reaching 41.87% by 3pm and touching 49.65% by 5pm. By the time polling ended, polling percentage reached 51.60% against 53.56% registered in 2019 amounting to a fall of 1.96% this time.
After polling, the task of depositing the EVMs from Allahabad and Phulpur seats at the strong room set up at Navin Sabzi Mandi in Mundera continued till late night. Likewise, in Pratapgarh, the EVMs were stored at the strong room set up at Mahuli Mandi till late night amidst tight security.