1.84 crore to vote in 51 UP constituencies on Feb 27

Over 1.84 crore voters will on Monday exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 617 candidates in 51 constituencies during the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

As many as 43 women contestants are in fray in these 51 segments spread across 10 districts of Bahraich, Basti, Balrampur, Gonda, Sant Kabeernagar, Shrawasti, Siddharthnagar, Sultanpur, Faizabad and Amethi.

According to Election Commission officials, adequate security is in place to ensure peaceful voting, which will start at 7 a.m.

Of the total electorate who will vote on February 27, 99.50 lakh are men and 85 lakh women, apart from 946 third-gender voters.

Voting for Alapur seat in Ambedkarnagar will now be held on March 8, as voting here, earlier scheduled for February 27, was countermanded due to the death of the Samajwadi Party candidate.

According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 19 per cent of the candidates in the fifth phase have criminal record, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) topping this list.

In the 2012 polls, the ruling Samajwadi Party bagged 37 of the 51 seats now at stake, the BSP three, Bharatiya Janata Party five, the Congress five and the Peace Party two.

The maximum 43 millionaire candidates in the fray in this phase are from the BSP, 38 from the BJP, 32 from the SP and seven from the Congress, which is contesting 14 seats in this phase.

A total of 14 Independents too are millionaires, according to the affidavits filed by them.

As many as 285 candidates are graduates, 38 literate and nine illiterate.

--IANS

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