Six-phase polling in UP, Amethi to vote May 7

Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state which elects the maximum of 80 members to the Lok Sabha, will see polling spread over six days in April-May.

The Election Commission said balloting will take place in the sprawling state April 10, 17, 24 and 30 and May 7 and 12.

Neighbouring Uttarakhand will go to the polls May 7.

Amethi, represented by Congress vice president, will see voting May 7 along with Sultanpur and Pratapgarh. BJP general secretary Varun Gandhi is likely to contest from Sultanpur.

Polling in the temple town of Varanasi is scheduled for May 12. While senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi is the MP from there, grapevine has it that BJP's Narendra Modi may try his luck from here.

Rae Bareli, held by Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will see balloting April 30.

The western parts of Uttar Pradesh -- Meerut, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar, singed by communal riots in 2013 -- will vote April 10. So will Ghaziabad and Noida, which adjoin Delhi.

The chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh said with Wednesday's election announcement in New Delhi, the model code of conduct had come into effect.

All announcements, events and other political activities in the state will now be under the poll panel's scanner.

In the outgoing Lok Sabha, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party have 22 members each from Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party has 21, the Bharatiya Janata Party 10 and the Rashtriya Lok Dal has five members.