Admin Deployed 18,000 Security Personnel Across Polling Centres

Kanpur: Despite aggressive campaigning by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the voting percentage remained 52.90 percent in the Industrial City.In the fourth phase of polling on Monday, the fate of 11 candidates, including BJP candidate Ramesh Awasthi, India Alliance candidate Alok Mishra and BSP candidate Kuldeep Bhadauria, who are in the fray from Kanpur Nagar seat, got sealed in the electronic voting machines (EVMs).Similarly, the fate of 10 candidates, including BJP candidate Devendra Singh Bhole, India Alliance candidate Rajaram Pal and BSP’s Rajesh Dwivedi was locked in the Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat which recorded a voter turnout of 58.70 per cent.With majority of complaints of names missing from the voters’ list and minor skirmishes, polling for this crucial phase ended in the city on a peaceful note amid presence of police and paramilitary forces.During the 2019 parliamentary elections, 51.48 percent of voters cast their votes but this time there was a slight jump of 1.42 per cent whereas the Election Commission had been working hard for the last few months to increase polling percentage. Making people aware about voting, BJP MLA Surendra Maithani arrived to vote in a unique style. Amid beating of drums, voters were made aware to come out of their homes, go to their respective polling centres and cast their vote. With enthusiasm seen among the people and long queues witnessed at some of the polling centres, the polling on 1411 seats of Kanpur Lok Sabha started at 7 in the morning.The administration deployed 18,000 security personnel across the polling centres for conducting fair polling. Additional forces along with 25 drones were deployed at sensitive and vulnerable polling stations. This includes PAC, CAPF, Commissionerate Police personnel, police personnel from other districts and home guards.Polling was impacted in Gangaganj, Bithoor and Kalyanpur due to technical snags in the EVMs. The SP candidate from Akbarpur Lok Sabha, Rajaram Pal, informed the Election Commission by tweeting about the technical snag in the EVM in Kalyanpur Assembly constituency. Later, the district election personnel swung into action and fixed the technical snag.District election officer Kanpur Nagar, Rakesh Kumar Singh and his wife Kiran Singh, cast their vote at JNK Inter College, Civil Lines. Singh appealed to the people to participate in the biggest festival of democracy today.The webcasting control room located at the Collectorate was inspected by district election officer Kanpur Nagar, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Commissioner of Police Akhil Kumar.The police commissioner and his family exercised their right to franchise at Hudson Memorial Girls High School, Civil Lines.UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana cast his vote at Harjinder Nagar School. He appealed to the people to go ahead and cast their vote. Arya Nagar MLA Amitabh Bajpai went to cast his vote along with his three generations at Municipal Corporation Girls Inter College Sarvodaya Nagar. Amitabh Bajpayee's daughter Shubhi Bajpayee and niece Sakshi Bajpayee cast their vote for the first time. They said that they voted for change, against inflation, unemployment, and to save the Constitution.Vice-chancellor of Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj University Vinay Pathak arrived at the polling centre to cast his vote along with his wife Vandana Pathak. Additional director-general of police, Kanpur Zone, Alok Singh along with his family cast his vote at Guru Narayan Khatri Inter College, Civil Lines.Mayor Pramila Pandey who casts her vote at the Hudson School polling station, appealed to the people to cast their vote first and then do anything else. Cabinet minister Rakesh Sachan voted along with his family members in Muralipur.