Lucknow, June 1 (Reporter) Around 46.83 percent of over 2.50 crore voters voted in 13 Lok Sabha Constituencies till 1500 hours in Saturday's final phase of election in Uttar Pradesh. Voting is underway in Varanasi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the fray. According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the maximum 51.27 percent votes were polled in Chandauli, whereas Ballia recorded a minimum 43.54 percent turnout till 3 pm. In Varanasi from where Modi is seeking a historic third term, 48.38 percent votes were polled till 3 pm. Here Congress has fielded its state president Ajay Rai. Among other constituencies, 51.16 percent in Maharajganj, 48.33 percent in Kushinagar, 47.32 percent in Deoria, 43.71 percent in Bansgaon, 44.82 percent in Ghosi, 43.48 percent in Salempur, 4613 in Ghazipur, 48.81 percent in Mirzapur and 47.15 percent in Robertsganj. Amid reports of glitches in EVM and boycott calls from some places, long lines of voters were reported from most of the constituencies where polling is being held. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath exercised his franchise at a polling station in Gorakhpur. He reached booth number 223 of English Medium Primary School Gorakhnath (Kanya) in the city area of Purana Gorakhpur at 7 am. After voting, he appealed to the voters to vote in large numbers and posted on X, "Voted in Gorakhpur for the Lok Sabha elections-2024. All of you must vote for the building 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat-Vikasit Bharat'. Jai Hind." Besides CM, Governor of Himachal Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla and sitting MP Ravi Kishan exercised their franchise. Similarly, Lieutenant General (LG) of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha exercised his franchise at a booth set up in the primary school in Ghazipur district. It may be noted that out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in this phase, 11 seats had been won by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 general elections. CEO Navdeep Rinwa informed that apart from voting in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, a byelection is also underway for the Duddhi assembly segment in Sonbhadra district where 48.28 percent votes were polled till 3 pm. He said that polling in 12 parliamentary constituencies which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm, whereas in Robertsganj, polling in two assembly segments which are tribal areas will be held between 7 am and 4 pm. The CEO said that a total 144 candidates, including 134 male and 10 female, are in the fray. Eleven seats are of general category and two are reserved for Scheduled Castes. They are spread over 11 districts -- Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra. He said of the total 2.50 crore voters, 1.33 crore are male voters and 1.17 crore are female. "There are a total of 14,183 polling centres and 25,658 polling booths where polling is being held," he said...////...