A voter turnout of 61.16% was recorded till 5 pm in Uttar Pradesh as 69 constituencies went to the polls in the third phase of Assembly elections, ANI reported. Stones were pelted at Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav’s car in Jaswant Nagar. Shivpal Yadav is fighting it out against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Manish Yadav from the constituency.
While Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav cast his vote in Saifai, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh cast his ballot from Lucknow. “Once again Samajwadi Party will be form the government [in Uttar Pradesh], in alliance with the Congress,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
The key areas in play are Kannauj, Etawah, Unnao, Lucknow and Kanpur. Voting began at 7 am in 12 districts of central Uttar Pradesh and at least 2.4 crore people will cast their ballot .
As many as 826 candidates are contesting for the 69 seats being contested in this phase. At least 110 of them have criminal cases against them. Another 225 candidates are contesting as independents, reported NDTV. A total of 105 candidates are women.
In Lucknow, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi will fight it out with the Samajwadi Party’’s Aparna Yadav on Sunday. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav is contesting from Kannauj.
In the Hardoi constituency, voters said the electronic voting machine was not working, ANI reported. SP minister Nitin Agrawal is contesting against BSP’s Dharamveer Singh and BJP’s Raja Bux Singh from Hardoi.
In the 2012 Assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party had held 55 of the 69 seats.
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