4th Phase: Polling underway at a slow pace amid EVM snags

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Voting was yet to pick up pace in the first two hours of polling on Monday for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states amid reports of electronic voting machine glitches in Bihar and Odisha. Polling is being held in 17 seats in Maharashtra, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand and a part of the Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.

In Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, less than one percent of the over 3.45 lakh electorate came out to vote in the first two hours.The voting in the second leg of three-phased schedule for the Lok Sabha seat would decide fate of 18 candidates, including former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. The overall poll percentage in district Kulgam at 9.00 am was 0.91 per cent, officials said.

Officials said polling so far has been peaceful in the militancy-infested district in the restive south Kashmir.In Uttar Pradesh, an estimated 9.59 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in 13 constituencies.Seats where polling is underway are Shahjahanpur (SC), Kheri, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi and Hamirpur.

Some of the prominent candidates are Dimple Yadav, former Union ministers Salman Khurshid (Farrukhabd) and Sriprakash Jaiswal (Kanpur) of Congress, UP Cabinet minister Satyadev Pachauri (from Kanpur), Sakshi Maharaj of BJP (from Unnao) and Annu Tandon of Congress (from Unnao).