Varanasi: Polling for the Varanasi region’s Graduate and Teacher MLC seats was held on Friday from 8 am to 4 pm, with the Teacher constituency recording a higher turnout than the Graduate constituency.
By the close of polling, voter turnout stood at 66.72% for the Teacher seat and 35.04% for the Graduate seat. A total of 23,457 voters cast their ballots for the Graduate constituency, while 5,263 voted for the Teacher constituency. At noon, turnout was recorded at 13.31% in the Graduate constituency and 28.44% in the Teacher constituency. By 2 pm, polling had risen to 24.12% for the Graduate seat and 50.89% for the Teacher seat. Voting began at 8 am, with voters reaching polling booths early in the morning. In Varanasi district, 74,840 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise at 102 booths across 21 polling centres. Of these, 66,952 voters were registered for the Graduate constituency and 7,888 for the Teacher constituency. For the Graduate constituency, 73 main booths and eight auxiliary booths were set up, while 21 booths were designated for the Teacher constituency. A total of 34 candidates are contesting the two seats in the Varanasi division. The Graduate constituency has 24 candidates, while 10 are in the fray for the Teacher constituency. Across the eight districts, around 2.88 lakh Graduate voters and nearly 34,900 Teacher voters are registered. A total of 257 booths were set up for Graduate voters and 122 for Teacher voters, with nearly 3.23 lakh voters eligible to participate.
Key candidates for the Graduate seat include outgoing Samajwadi Party MLC Ashutosh Sinha and former BJP MLC Kedarnath Singh. The Varanasi division election covers Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi and Ballia districts. Security was tightened at polling centres, strong rooms and the counting venue to ensure peaceful and fair polling. Police officials reviewed the arrangements, with special focus on the safe transportation of ballot boxes and ballot papers to the strong room, CCTV surveillance and controlled entry.
Counting of votes will begin at 8 am on Oct 27 at Pahadiya Mandi, where the results for both MLC seats of the Varanasi division will be declared. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Varanasi | Silver Rate in Varanasi | Bank Holidays in Varanasi | Public Holidays in Varanasi | Varanasi AQI | Weather in Varanasi | Petrol Price in Varanasi | Diesel Price in Varanasi | CNG Price in Varanasi | LPG Price in Varanasi Stay updated with the latest Varanasi news. Download the TOI App.