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Low turnout in UP and Andhra till noon

An average of eight per cent voters cast their votes in the first two hours of polling in the 30 Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh today.

No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere so far.

Chief Electoral Officer Noor Mohammad said in Lucknow that polling was peaceful in all the 30 of the 85 constituencies in the state including three seats of Agra, Allahabad and Kanpur where electronic voting machines are being used.

Preliminary reports received in Lucknow said about ten per cent of the voters in Agra, Mainpuri and Mirzapur (reserved ) had cast their votes in the first two hours of polling. Eight per cent polling was reported in Varanasi during this period. Seven per cent voters cast their vote in Bulandshahar and Robertsganj (reserved) and five per cent in Allahabad.

State Director General of Police K L Gupta said no untoward incident had been reported from any of the constituencies so far. To maintain law and order in these constituencies about 3.42 lakh security personnel, including 314 companies of paramilitary forces and provincial armed constabulary, have been deployed.

Reports received from various centres said polling has so far been peaceful. In the rural areas however, the pace of polling had been faster than the urban areas. At many places, voters had queued up since early morning.

A report from Allahabad said 79 NCC cadets were assisting the officials on election duty in their work there.

Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh, a Congress worker was killed and three people were injured in two separate poll-related incidents during the crucial third and final phase of elections for 14 Lok Sabha and 97 assembly constituencies in the state today.

About 15 percent of the 17.5 million voters, including 8.7 women, exercised their franchise till noon.

According to the police in Hyderabad, while a Congress activist was killed, allegedly by the ruling Telegu Desam Party workers, in a group clash near a polling booth in Warangal district, three people were injured in a landmine blast in Karimnagar district.

Further details about the blast were awaited. Barring the two incidents, polling was peaceful, police said.

Unprecedented security arrangements had been made in the wake of the poll boycott call given by the Naxalites of the People's War Group.

The electoral fortunes of 108 candidates for the Lok Sabha and 702 candidates for the assembly will be decided in today's polling.

The prominent candidates for the Lok Sabha include former Union ministers P Upendra (Congress-Vijayawada), S Jaipal Reddy (Congress-Miryalaguda), Renuka Choudhary (Congress-Khammam), Venugopal Chari (TDP-Adilabad), Ch Vidyasagar (BJP-Karimnagar), and Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy (CPI-Nalgonda).

UNI

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