UP polls: 58 seats up for grabs in 1st phase; 5th, 6th phase to cover 120

The seven-phase election in electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh will see the the fourth and fifth phases covering highest 60 seats each while the seventh and the last phase will see voting on the least number of seats at 54.

Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on Saturday announced the poll dates for the 403-member state assembly with the first phase of polling beginning in over a month on February 10. The counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh will take place on March 10 along with four other states for which poll dates were announced. The seven-phase election in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.

The date of notification for the first phase election is January 14, the last date of filing nominations is January 21, the scrutiny of nominations will take place on January 24 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is January 27.

A total of 58 assembly seats spread over 11 districts will go the polls in the first phase on February 10. The notification for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh polls will be made on January 21 and the last date of filing nominations is January 28. The second phase election on January 14 will cover 55 seats across nine districts of the state.

The CEC said that notification for third phase poll for 59 seats in 16 districts will be made on January 25 and polling will be held on February 20.

The notification for the fourth phase will be issued on January 27. The sixty seats in this phase are spread over nine districts and the polling will be held on February 23.

Chandra said the notification for fifth phase of polls will be held on February 1 and polling on sixty seats in 11 districts will be held on February 27.A total of 57 seats in 10 districts will go to the polls in the sixth phase and the date of issue of notification is February 4. Polling for this phase will be held on March 3.

The notification for seventh and last phase will be issued on February 10 and 54 seats across nine districts will go the polls on March 7.The tenure of the state assembly is scheduled to end on May 14 this year.

The poll panel also announced dates of elections for Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. BJP is in power in four of five poll-bound states including Uttar Pradesh.

In 2017 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 312 out of 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress had formed an alliance with the former contesting on 298 seats and the latter on the remaining 105 seats. The SP could manage to win only 47 seats and Congress got seven seats. Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) had won 19 seats. For the coming polls, BJP has formed alliance with smaller parties as has the Samajwadi Party. Leaders of various parties have held rallies and carried out yatras to woo voters. The BJP government led by Yogi Adiyanath has been highlighting its ahievements over nearly five years of its rule.