Lucknow, June 1 (Reporter) More than 28 percent out of over 2.50 crore votes were polled on 13 seats in Saturday's final phase of Lok Sabha elections, including in Varanasi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting and Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath's hometown. According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of UP around 28.02 percent votes were polled in the first two hours of polling till 11 am. Maximum 29.66 percent votes were polled in Maharajganj, whereas Varanasi from where PM Modi is seeking a historic third term, 26.13 percent votes were polled till 11 am. Here Congress has fielded its state president Ajay Rai. In Gorakhpur, which is witnessing an interesting contest between the sitting MP and Bollywood actor Ravi Kishan and Bhojpuri TV actress Kajal Nishad, 26.64 percent votes were polled in the first four hours. Among other constituencies, 28.06 in Kushinagar, 28.1 percent in Deoria, 28.3 percent in Bansgaon, 27.67 percent in Ghosi, 27.94 percent in Salempur, 27.81 percent in Ballia, 27.55 in Ghazipur, 29.08 percent in Chandauli, 29.54 percent in Mirzapur and 28.09 percent in Robertsganj. 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 'Atmanirbhar Bharat-Vikasit Bharat'. Jai Hind." Besides CM, Governor of Himachal Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla and sitting MP Ravi Kishan exercised their franchise. It may be noted that out of 13 seats in this phase 11 were secured by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 general elections. CEO Navdeep Rinwa informed that apart from voting on 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state, a by-election is also underway for the Duddhi assembly segment in Sonbhadra district. He said that polling in 12 parliamentary constituencies which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm, whereas polling in two assembly segments of Robertsganj 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. "The 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of this phase are Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj," he said. They are spread over 11 districts -- Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra. He said of the total 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...////...