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Voting for the second phase of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Goa began at 7 am today. While polling in Uttarakhand is scheduled to start at 8 am.
In Uttar Pradesh, voting will be held in nine districts of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Amroha, Badaun, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur for 55 assembly seats. A total of 586 candidates are in the poll fray out of which 69 are women candidates.
Of the 55 seats going to polls in this phase, the BJP had won 38 in 2017, while the Samajwadi Party had bagged 15 and the Congress two. The SP and the Congress had contested the last Assembly election in an alliance. The areas going to the polls in this phase have a sizeable Muslim population influenced by religious leaders of the Barelvi and Deoband sects and are considered to be the strongholds of the Samajwadi Party.
Fate of 632 candidates in 70 assembly constituencies spread across 13 districts will be decided in Uttarakhand today. Important candidates whose fate is to be decided in the polls include Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, his cabinet colleagues Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Dhan Singh Rawat and Rekha Arya besides state BJP president Madan Kaushik.
Prominent candidates from the Congress include former chief minister Harish Rawat, former minister Yashpal Arya, state Congress president Ganesh Godiyal and Leader of Opposition in the fourth assembly Pritam Singh.
As many as 301 candidates are in the fray for 40 Assembly seats in Goa where the BJP is looking to remain in power. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will contest from Sanquelim seat. The Congress has fielded Dharmesh Saglani and the TMC named Manoj Gandhi Amonkar against Sawant.
