61.16% voting recorded till 5 pm in third phase of UP polls

In 2012 polls, SP had won 55 of these 69 seats, while BSP, BJP, Cong secured 6, 5 and 2 respectively

6.06 pm:  61.16 per cent voter turnout till 5pm.

3.56 pm: 53 per cent voter turnout till 3pm.

2.55 pm: Over 44% votes cast till 2 pm.

1.37 pm: 38.96 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm.

12.50 pm: Dimple Yadav casts her vote in Saifai. Let's be progressive and think about the future, she says.

12.27 pm: Developmental work has been done in Uttar Pradesh and Akhilesh will once again be the chief minister: Mulayam Singh Yadav

12.05 pm: SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav casts his vote in Saifai.
12.01 pm: 24.19% voter turnout till 11 am

10.57 am: Union Minister Uma casts her vote.


10.35 am: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal casts his vote at booth no. 111 in Kanpur.

10.32 am: There is a BJP wave in Uttar Pradesh. BSP and SP are fighting for second and third place: Pankaj Singh, BJP, after casting vote in Lucknow 

10.30 am: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav casts his vote in Saifai. He says, "Once again Samajwadi Party will be forming the government, in alliance with the Congress."

10.05 am: Not only clear majority, BJP is winning by absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh: Home Minister Rajnath Singh
10 am: Stones pelted at SP leader Shivpal Yadav's car in Etawah's Jaswantnagar.

9.44 am: Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh T Venkatesh cast his vote in Lucknow.

9.29 am: 12 per cent voting recorded till 9 am.

9.20 am: Voting percentage till 9 am - Kanpur Nagar 7.71%, Kannauj 11.65% and Sitapur 11%

9.15 am: BSP will at least win 300 seats: Mayawati after casting vote in Lucknow

9.05 am: BSP chief Mayawati casts her vote in Lucknow.

8.40 am: Mulayam ji's emotional appeal points to the fact that Aparna Yadav is losing: Rita Bahuguna Joshi, BJP, after casting vote in Lucknow

8.30 am: There is no infighting at all as far as voting is concerned. We are winning 300+ seats: Ramgopal Yadav after casting vote in Saifai

7 am: Voting begins for the third phase of UP polls.

Polling is underway in 69 Assembly constituencies that figure in phase-III of the staggered Uttar Pradesh elections.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's Lok Sabha constituency Lucknow, and Samajwadi Party strongholds Kannauj, Mainpuri and Etawah, figure in this round.

Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Unnao, Barabanki and Sitapur are among the 12 districts where these Assembly seats are spread across.

Etawah is the native place of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, while another key district is Mainpuri, from where Tej Pratap Yadav is an SP MP. From Kannauj, Dimple Yadav, wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is an MP.

In the 2012 Assembly polls, SP had won 55 of these 69 seats, while BSP, BJP and Congress secured just six, five and two respectively. One seat went to an Independent.

The fate of 826 candidates in this phase will be decided by 2.41 crore voters, including 1.10 crore women and 1,026 belonging to third gender category.

In this phase, the maximum number of 4,98,573 voters are in Sarojini Nagar seat of Lucknow, while the minimum of 2,72,294 voters are in Sisamau.

While the highest number of 21 candidates are in Etawah, minimum of three candidates are in Haidergarh (Barabanki).

Lucknow West and Central have 17 candidates each.

There are 25,603 polling booths in this phase. Tight security arrangements have also been made.

For free and fair polling, the Election Commission has appointed 4,609 micro-observers and 61 general observers and deployed over 83,000 personnel of central para-military forces.

Besides this, 9,119 sub-inspectors of police, 3,357 head constables, 58,789 constables and 58,025 homeguards of state police are on duty today.

There are 1,707 sector magistrates, 200 zonal and 271 static magistrates to to ensure peace.

Prominent among those whose prestige is at stake are Nitin Agarwal, son of SP leader Naresh Agarwal, BSP turncoat Brijesh Pathak from Lucknow (Central) on BJP ticket and Congress turncoat Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow Cantt, who is pitted against Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna.

SP leader Shivpal too is a key figure in this round. He is contesting from Jaswant Nagar seat.

Congress leader PL Punia's son Tanuj Punia is trying his luck from Jaidpur seat in Barabanki.

In 2012 Assembly and 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the turnout in these areas was 59.96 per cent and 58.43 per cent respectively.

The next four phases of polling will be held on February 23, 27 and on March 4 and 8. Counting of votes will take place on March 11.