8.04% voting recorded in UP Lok Sabha polls

Lucknow:Only 8.04 per cent voting was recorded in the first two hours of polling to Uttar Pradesh's 13 parliamentary constituencies in the seventh and last phase of the general elections, according to a voter turn-out app.

As of 9 a.m., the voter turnout was the highest in Kushinagar with an estimated 11.86 per cent, while Ballia recorded the lowest with 5.39 per cent.

Deoria recorded 11.10 per cent, followed by Varanasi (10.87 per cent), Maharajganj (10.17 per cent), Chandauli (9.62 per cent), Bansgaon (9.57 per cent), Ghosi (9.15 per cent), Salempur (9.12 per cent) Robertsganj (9.09 per cent), Gorakhpur (9.04 per cent) and Ballia (5.39 per cent).

The voting figure for the Mirzapur and the Ghazipur parliamentary constituencies were not available.

Voting began at 7 a.m. across 25,874 polling booths in the Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj constituencies. It will end at 6 p.m.

There are a total of 42 candidates are in the fray whose fate will be decided by 2.32 crore voters.

In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies won all the 13 seats. But the saffron party lost the prestigious Gorakhpur seat in the 2018 by-polls.

The BJP is facing a direct challenge from the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) alliance on 10 seats while two - Kushinagar and Deoria - are in for a triangular contest with the Congress.

Congress with its ally is contesting on 12 seats.The saffron party is contesting on 11 Lok Sabha seats, while its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is contesting in Mirzapur, currently held by Union Minister Anupriya Patel, and Robertsganj.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is re-contesting from Varanasi. Besides Modi, 25 other candidates are in fray from Varanasi.

Modi's main challengers are Congress' Ajay Rai and SP-BSP's joint candidate Shalini Yadav.

Among other major contestants are BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit chief Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister Manoj Sinha and Congress R.P.N Singh. The BJP has fielded Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan as its candidate from Gorakhpur.