Over 45% vote in Uttarakhand till 3 p.m.

Over 45% vote in Uttarakhand till 3 p.m.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat showing his inked finger after casting his vote for Lok Sabha election in Dehradun on April 11, 2019. (Photo: IANS)

A girl assists her visually impaired parents to a polling booth for casting their votes for the first phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in Dehradun on April 11, 2019. (Photo: IANS)

Dehradun, April 11 (IANS) Over 45 per cent voting was recorded till 3 p.m. on Thursday for Uttarakhand's five Lok Sabha seats, said an official. "Till 3 p.m., the voting percentage was around 46.59 per cent," said Saujanya, Chief Electoral Officer of Uttarakhand.

Voting began at 7 a.m. and will end at 5 p.m. A total of 78.56 lakh people are eligible to vote in the hill state where 52 candidates are in the race for the five Lok Sabha seats -- Tehri, Pauri, Nainital, Almora, and Haridwar.

In many booths, long queues of voters were seen waiting to cast their votes.

"Our forces are on alert. The polling was peaceful till 3 p.m.," said Uttarakhand Director General of Police (DGP) Anil Raturi. Over 45,000 police and other security personnel have been deployed for the election.

The administration has set up 85 inter-state and 10 international barriers with Nepal.

Of the total 11,229 polling booths in the state, 697 have been declared vulnerable and 656 critical. Most vulnerable and critical booths are in Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun districts.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is locked in a straight battle with the Congress in all the five seats.

--IANS

str/mag/pcj

(This story was auto-published from a syndicated feed. No part of the story has been edited by The Quint.)