NB BUREAU
Polling for the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections to decide the fate of 692 candidates is underway in the state since 7 am.
Today’s phase will see voting in 61 assembly seats across 12 districts of the state.Political future of some predominant face like the Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is contesting from the Sirathu assembly seat in the Kaushambi district is at stake. Maurya is facing Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) candidate Pallavi Patel.
Amethi and Raebareli, once considered Congress bastions, and Ayodhya, the epicentre of the Ram temple movement, will too vote today.
Other ministers in the fray are Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West, Rajendra Singh, alias Moti Singh, from Patti (Pratapgarh), Nand Gopal Gupta Nadi from Allahabad South and Ramapati Shastri from Mankapur (Gonda). Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, who is the MLA from Kunda since 1993, is once again in the fray from his party Jansatta Dal, with old aide Gulshan Yadav contesting against him on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
With the completion of polling on Sunday, Uttar Pradesh will have voted on 292 of the total 403 seats in the Assembly. The last two phases of the elections will be held on March 3 and March 7. Around 2.24 crore voters will exercise their franchise in this phase in the districts of Sultanpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Barabanki, Bahraich, Shravasti and Gonda. Polling for the fifth phase started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
The Counting will be done on March 10.
(With inputs from agencies)
