Polling starts on dull note in final phase in UP

Polling for the seventh and final phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections covering 60 constituencies began on a slow note today with around 11% of voters exercising their franchise in first two hours.

Polling on 60 seats, nearly half of which were bagged by BSP last time, in ten districts began at 7am and 10.6% polling was registered in first two hours, chief electoral officer Umesh Sinha said.

Lakhimpur, Badaun and Bheemnagar districts registered 11% polling each. This phase was earlier scheduled for February 4 but was later postponed to March 3.

More than 1.82 crore voters would decide the fate of 962 candidates including some political veterans in Bijnore, Moradabad, Bheem Nagar, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Badaun, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri.

Besides Samajwadi Party's Muslim face Mohammad Azam Khan, who is contesting from Rampur, fate of minister in Mayawati government Omvati from Nagina seat, BSP MP Jugal Kishore's son Saurabh from Kasta and Rastriya Parivartan Dal head D P Yadav, considered heavyweight from Sahsawan seat, would be decided in this concluding phase.

The impact of BJP MP from Aonla Maneka Gandhi, her son and BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, Union Minister and MP from Dhaurara seat in Lakhimpur, Jitin Prasad and Congress MP Azharuddin in their constituencies would be keenly watched.

In the 2007 assembly polls, BSP had bagged 27 of these seats, while SP and BJP had got 17 and nine seats respectively.

While Rashtriya Parivartan Dal (RPD) of D P Yadav had got two seats, Congress and others got one seat respectively.

After denial of entry in the SP, Yadav has fielded candidates from his own party. SP has also put all its strength to increase its tally in these districts.

Rashtriya Lok Manch of Amar Singh and local Rampur MP Jaya Prada's influence is also at stake as they have tried their best to ensure defeat of Azam Khan at his home turf.

As far as Congress is concerned, impact of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who addressed a total of 211 rallies and conducted roadshows covering 18 assembly constituencies from November 14 till February 29 including this region would is also at test in this phase.