Polling was held today for all 70 assembly seats in Uttarakhand and 40 constituencies in Goa, as well as for 55 out of 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, in the second phase of the 2022 Assembly Elections.
Voting, which is being held in accordance with Covid guidelines issued by the Election Commission, began at 7 am and concluded at 5 pm in Uttar Pradesh. In Goa (which started polling at 7 am) and Uttarakhand (which opened at 8 am), polls closed at 6 pm.
As per the Election Commission, while Uttarakhand recorded 61.58 per cent voter turnout in the Assembly elections, Goa achieved 78.94 per cent voter turnout while Uttar Pradesh recorded 62.99 per cent polling for the 55 seats.
In Uttar Pradesh, of the 55 seats going to polls in this phase, the ruling BJP had won 38 in 2017, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) had bagged 15 and the Congress two. The SP and the Congress had contested the last Assembly election in an alliance. The state is having a seven-phase election.
Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members out of which the BJP currently has 17 legislators and enjoys the support of legislators from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), and three independents.
In the 2022 polls, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is being challenged by Congress, Trinamool Congress and Aam Admi Party (AAP) in a multi-cornered electoral contest in Goa.
BJP is hoping to win a second term in Uttarakhand, which has seen 11 Chief Ministers in the last two decades.