UP Assembly Elections: Voting Begins For 5th Phase

Fifth phase of voting for 61 constituencies across 12 districts in Uttar Pradesh began on Sunday. Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies hold the advantage over the central and Awadh region seats that go into the polls today. Temple town Ayodhya will be under the scanner after construction of a Ram temple there became a major agenda for the ruling party.

BJP MLA V P Gupta will be up against Samajwadi Party’s Pawan Pandey for the seat. After defeating five-term BJP MLA from this seat in 2012, Pandey came to be known as “giant killer”.

Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad, also goes to polls today. Meanwhile, former Congress’s stronghold Amethi also votes today.

Having won 50 of the 61 seats here in 2017, this phase will be crucial for the BJP and its allies. On the other hand, a resurgent Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav will be BJP’s main opposition here.

BJP’s main focus as the pitch for the UP polls has been action against criminals and mafias as the opposition try to corner the BJP on the issue of stray cattle, unemployment and rural distress.

Notably, the 61 constituencies that will vote today are spread across nine districts. They are Sultanpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Barabanki, Bahraich, Shravasti and Gonda.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will be contesting from the Sirathu assembly seat in the Kaushambi district against Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) candidate Pallavi Patel.

Apart from that, Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West, Rajendra Singh alias Moti Singh from Patti in Pratapgarh, Nand Gopal Gupta Nadi from Allahabad South and Ramapati Shastru from Mankapur in Gonda are the prominent ministers in the fray today.

Voting for 231 seats out of 403 in UP has been conducted up to phase four, with the assembly elections held over seven phases.