Amethi, Rae Bareli to go to polls on May 6, Varanasi on May 19

Elections for the high-profile Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies in UP, represented by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, respectively, will be held in the fifth phase of polling on May 6, the Election Commission said on Sunday.

Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in The Lok Sabha, will vote last on May 19.

Voting in UP will be held in the seven phases on April 11, 18, 23, 29 and May 6, 12 and 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Along with Amethi and Rae Bareli, voting in Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kaiserganj and Gonda will take place on May 6. In the 16th Lok Sabha, Lucknow was represented by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

In the first phase on April 11, voting will be held in Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar - all located in western Uttar Pradesh.

In the second phase on April 18, polling will take place in Nageena, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri.

It is rumoured that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati may contest from Nageena. Mathura at present is represented by veteran Bollywood actress-turned-politician Hema Malini.

In the third phase on April 23, voting will take place in Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun, Aonla, Bareilly and Pilibhit. In this belt the Samajwadi Party (SP) has been traditionally strong, but was routed in the last general elections in 2014.

Mulayam Singh Yadav is set to contest from Mainpuri this time. Union minister Maneka Gandhi won from Pilibhit in 2014.

In the fourth phase on April 29, polling will be held at Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Hardoi, Mishrikh, Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Hamirpur.

Union minister Uma Bharati, who has announced that she will not contest this time, represented Jhansi in the 16th Lok Sabha.

Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phoolpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Dumariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabeernagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Bhadohi and Machlishahr will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 12.

The seventh and final phase of polling on May 19 will see voting in Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Baangaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Robertsganj and Varanasi.

--IANS

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