Voting began for 61 assembly seats across 12 districts in the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on February 27.
As many as 692 candidates are in the fray for this phase of polling covering the eastern region of the state which includes districts Amethi, Ayodhya (Faizabad), Barabanki and Prayagraj (Allahabad).
Key contestants in the fray include Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu assembly seat, Congress legislative party leader Aradhana Mishra from Rampur Khas, independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya from Kunda seat, and UP cabinet ministers Siddharth Nath Singh and Nand Gopal Gupta Nadi from Allahabad West and Allahabad South respectively.
Also contesting this phase of polling are former Congress leader Sanjaya Sinh, this time as a nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Amethi, and Ved Prakash Gupta, BJP legislator from Ayodhya, where he is up against former MLA and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Tej Narayan Pandey.
The voting will start at 7 am and end at 6 pm and around 2.24 crore voters will exercise their franchise in this phase. Campaigning for the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections ended on Friday, February 25.
The ruling BJP and SP, the two main challengers in the seven-phase battle for the 403-member state assembly, were engaged in a high-decibel hard-sell campaign for this phase. Prime minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh, home minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressed rallies ahead of this round.
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Akhilesh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too toured the constituencies extensively. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday blamed successive governments of rival parties in Uttar Pradesh for its economic backwardness, forcing people to migrate to other states as labourers.
After today’s round, polling will have been done in five phases for 292 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh assembly. The remaining 111 seats will be voted for in two phases on March 3 and March 7 while the results will be declared on March 10, along with the results of Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur.
(With agency inputs)
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