UP Assembly Elections | SabrangIndia News Related to Human Rights Mon, 07 Mar 2022 13:35:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://sabrangindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Favicon_0.png UP Assembly Elections | SabrangIndia 32 32 UP Assembly Elections: Phase 7 turnout just over 54 percent https://sabrangindia.in/assembly-elections-phase-7-turnout-just-over-54-percent/ Mon, 07 Mar 2022 13:35:06 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2022/03/07/assembly-elections-phase-7-turnout-just-over-54-percent/ EC data at 5 P.M shows that none of the districts crossed 60 percent in terms of turnout

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Image Courtesy:indiatvnews.com

The final phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections ended at 6 P.M on March 7, 2022 with a lukewarm average voter turnout of just 54.18 percent in the nine districts where voting took place today.

During this phase polling was held in 54 Assembly seats spread across nine districts: Azamgarh, Bhadohi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Mau, Mirzapur, Sonebhadra and Varanasi. Phase 7 was the last and perhaps the most awaited phase of elections given how Azamgarh is the Samajwadi Party bastion, and Varanasi is seen as a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had contested Parliamentary Elections from there.

At the time of going to press, figures were only available for voter turnout by 5 P.M. Now, typically, a high voter turnout points to an anti-incumbency factor. Therefore, a 52.31 percent turnout in Azamgarh will perhaps not be a major cause of concern for Akhilesh Yadav. Similarly, the voter turnout in Varanasi was also a tepid 52.95 percent, thus suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might not have much to worry about here. Infact, the highest turnout in this phase came from Chandauli (59.54 percent), followed by Sonebhadra (56.86 percent).

Sonebhadra is a tribal-dominated belt and is the traditional home of the Gond Adivasis and forest workers who make a living growing produce on forest land or by foraging for and selling forest produce. They have been locked in a pitched battle for forest rights with the local administration that is often allegedly in cahoots with crony capitalists out to exploit the forest land for mining and real estate purposes. Often the local Forest Department officials are roped in to intimidate Adivasis and villagers, dependent on forest land and produce. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), SabrangIndia’s sister organization has been helping these Adivasi and forest-dwelling communities get their community forest rights as guaranteed by the Forest Rights Act (2006). You can read all about it here.

CJP has an active team of researchers and humanitarian workers in Purvanchal, as the easter region of UP is popularly called. CJP Varanasi team leader, Dr. Muniza Khan, who is a social scientist and human rights activist says, “We went to different areas of Varanasi to gauge the mood of the electorate. At Assi Ghat most people appeared to be BJP supporters. Near Ravidas Ghat though, we experienced something peculiar. At first, people sang praises of the BJP, but when they realized that we were not BJP members, they told us they had voted for Samajwadi Party. It is because of these apprehensions and such behaviour, that it is very difficult to ascertain what’s really on people’s minds.” However, Dr. Khan and the CJP team did find that education, inflation and employment were a huge concern among people.

As per voter turnout data for sub-divisions within Varanasi, Shivpur (55.7 percent) and Sevapuri (55.3 percent) had the highest voter turnout, with Varanasi Cantt recording an abysmal 48.5 percent.

Purvanchal is home to a large community of traditional weavers. These men and women work on both handlooms and power-looms and also engage in allied activities. A study by CJP to ascertain the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives and livelihood of people also found that systemic problems had predated the pandemic. These include faulty policies and improper implementation of subsidies – all of which ultimately enable larger corportates to virtually takeover and control the traditional Banarasi weaving industry and earn handsome profits from exports even as the benefits of these high profit margins rarely trickle down to the actual weavers and artisans. You can read our full report here.

Another study by CJP found that Covid-19 deaths were grossly under-reported in the state. From January 2020 to August 2021, the areas surveyed saw around 60% more recorded deaths than expected from 2019 records as well as from government data on the death rate in the state before the pandemic. If the rise in mortality in these areas was repeated across all of Uttar Pradesh, the state as a whole could have had around 14 lakh (1.4 million) excess deaths during the pandemic – roughly 60-times Uttar Pradesh’s official Covid-19 death toll of 23,000. Read more here.

From the above, it is clear that Purvanchal voters could have played a decisive role in turning the tide of the elections, but alas, the low turnout and allegations of fraud and intimidation paint a different picture.

The election in phase 7 wasn’t smooth, with the Samajwadi Party alleging that as many as 200 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were either faulty or had gone missing in as many as six constituencies! They also alleged that bogus voting and voter intimidation took place at multiple booths, and tweeted out booth numbers of the same. Here are a few examples:

 

 

 

Related:

Uttar Pradesh: Poll Day ‘campaigns’ continue online?
UP Assembly Election: Did voter turnout drop in later phases?
Alleged bogus voting, faulty EVMs reported: CJP to UP SEC

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]]> UP Assembly Elections: Over 57 percent turnout in Phase 1 https://sabrangindia.in/assembly-elections-over-57-percent-turnout-phase-1/ Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:37:23 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2022/02/10/assembly-elections-over-57-percent-turnout-phase-1/ Polling held in 58 constituencies, many of which have a huge population of people engaged in agriculture, several of whom participated in the anti-farm law protests

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The first phase of polling for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections took place in 58 out of the total 403 constituencies in the state today. These constituencies fall in eleven districts: Agra, Aligarh, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Mathura, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli. 623 candidates are vying for the votes of 2.27 crore eligible voters in this phase.

The final voter turnout by the close of polls at 6 P.M was still awaited at the time of publishing the story. But it stood at 57.79 percent at 5 P.M. as per Election Commission.

Ordinarily a large voter turnout indicates a strong anti-incumbency factor. In 2017, when Yogi Adityanath came to power, the voter turnout was 61.04 percent, when the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government was ousted.

Overall, the voting process was peaceful with only a few incidents of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) reported from some places. However, those were reportedly replaced. What was significant though was that Western UP constituencies such as Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Baghpat, that went to polls today, are home to a large population from the agrarian community, many of whom participated in the farmers’ movement and held demonstrations at different spots along the Delhi border.

While Shamli recorded a voter turnout of 61.78 percent, Muzaffarnagar’s vote turnout stood at 62.14 percent. Meerut recorded a voter turnout of 58.52 percent, while in Baghpat it was 61.35 percent till 5 P.M.

The farming community here got a huge shock on the day of polling itself when the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Ashish Mishra, who is one of the key accused in the incident when his vehicle allegedly mowed down five people – four protesting farmers and a journalist at Tikonia village in Lakhimpur Kheri district last year. Ashish is the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra and was allegedly traveling in the vehicle that was involved in the killing. Farmers’ organisations had long been demanding strict legal action against him, as well as the dismissal of his father. Though Ashish was taken into custody after many delays and much drama, his father was never removed from his post, even temporarily pending an inquiry.

Additionally, constituencies such as Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr and Gautam Buddh Nagar are sensitive from both the communal and caste point of view, some even have a history of communal violence and caste clashes. The voter turnout in Ghaziabad stood at 54.77 percent, while it was 60.52 percent in Bulandshahr, and 54.77 percent in Gautam Buddh Nagar till 5 P.M.

Meanwhile, communalism raised its ugly head in Jaunpur that will go to polls in the seventh phase of the elections. A college professor allegedly threw out a Muslim girl student from class for wearing a Hijab. It is important to note here that amidst the political agendas of the pro and anti-hijab lobbies, it is actually the Muslim female students who will end up suffering both ways: If they wear a hijab they are denied the opportunity to attend classes, if they refuse to wear it, many conservative families will outright prevent them from going to school/college. The right-wing on both sides of the communal divide remains deeply patriarchal and eventually, it is always the women who end up paying the price.

Related:

Lakhimpur Kheri case: Ashish Mishra gets bail!
UP professor throws Muslim girl out of class for wearing hijab!
UP can become Kashmir, Kerala, Bengal if you do not vote for BJP: CM Adityanath

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