Peaceful voting in Uttar Pradesh

Voters queued up early Wednesday at polling booths in Uttar Pradesh's 15 parliamentary constituencies that are balloting. Officials said the voting has been peaceful and brisk in the initial hours.

No untoward incident was reported from anywhere and voting was going on smoothly, Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha told IANS.

Wednesday's voting would seal the fate of 243 candidates, prominent among whom are Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, late Sanjay Gandhi's son and BJP general secretary Varun Gandhi, union minister Beni Prasad Verma and Ameeta Singh, wife of senior Congress leader Sanjay Singh.

Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election from Amethi where he is pitted against Aam Aadmi Party's poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas and Bharatiya Janata Party's TV actress-turned-politician Smriti Irani.

State Congress president Nirmal Khatri is candidate from Faizabad, which was seat of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Both BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi addressed an election rally each in Faizabad.

By-polls from two state assembly constituencies - Rampur Khas and Vishwanathganj - are also being held simultaneously.

This phase of polling is crucial for the Congress as it held seven of the 15 seats that have gone to vote Wednesday.

Fearing intimidation and use of muscle power, election officials have placed some leaders of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress under preventive house detention.

Poll officials fear the rising mercury could deter voters from turning up in large numbers to vote, and have urged people to come out and exercise their franchise.

In the last four phases of polling, an average of 60 percent voting was recorded in the state.