Pilibhit (TIP)-The fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh’s assembly election ended at 6 pm on February 23. Voting began at 7 am in each of the 59 assembly constituencies, with over 600 candidates in the fray. Earlier, the Pilibhit district had one of the highest turnout rates. Pilibhit district had 61.42 per cent of the vote as of 5 pm, while Lakhimpur Kheri had 62.45 per cent.

Pilibhit, also known as the ‘city of flute, saw a high turnout at polling stations beginning early in the morning.

Local artists and musicians, including Dinesh Yadav, who spoke to India today, urged voters to turn out in large numbers and exercise their democratic rights to elect a new stable government that can work for them.

One of the district villages, Imiliya, however, boycotted voting, claiming that the authorities and government were not addressing local issues. Only 125 of the village’s 579 voters had cast ballots till 11 am, with the remaining declaring their intention not to vote.

Naresh Kumar, a local villager from Pilibhit district said, “the underpass built to connect our villages is flooded throughout the year, and we are unable to take our children to school. Sometimes the situation becomes vulnerable even during a medical emergency. “Despite our complaints, no one addresses the situation, so we will not vote until our issues are resolved,” he said. After the 2017 elections, when the ruling party slept on all assembly constituencies in the district, Pilibhit became known as the BJP‘s bastion. Surprisingly, the BJP member of parliament from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi, has turned out to be a rebel against his own party-led central government over farm laws. Even in recent days, he has frequently launched attacks on the government on a variety of issues. During his campaign for the UP polls, audio clips surfaced accusing Varun Gandhi of instructing a close aide to transfer votes to rival parties. Source: India Today