Voting starts in Uttar Pradesh

Voters began to queue up Saturday at polling stations for the by-poll in Uttar Pradesh's one Lok Sabha and 11 assembly constituencies.

The state's ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the main contenders in most of the assembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha seat.

The BJP, which won a whopping 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in May, has the most at stake as it held all the 11 assembly seats along with its ally Apna Dal.

The assembly constituencies which will go to the polls Saturday are Lucknow (East), Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha, Rohania, Nighasan, Saharanpur city, Bijnore, Thalurdwara, Noida, and Hamirpur. Mainpuri is the lone Lok Sabha constituency.

The number of voters in Mainpuri is 1647,176.

The biggest assembly segment in terms of voters is Noida (523,762) and the smallest is Thakurdwara (329,438).

For the Samajwadi Party, the polls are an opportunity to make a comeback, after its disastrous showing in the Lok Sabha battle where its numbers dipped from 22 to five.

The Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency was vacated by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The SP has fielded Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, a grandnephew of Mulayam Singh, while the BJP has fielded Prem Singh Shakya.

The Bahujan Samaj Party has this time decided not to contest.