Uttar Pradesh set to vote tomorrow for 18 LS seats

Polling for 18 seats in the crucial last phase of Lok Sabha polls in eastern Uttar Pradesh, to decide the fate of 328 candidates, including BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav will be held tomorrow.
Over 3 crore voters, including 1.35 crore women, are expected to exercise their franchise at 19,881 polling centres to decide the fate of various political stalwarts.
In the mother of all political battles, Kejriwal will take on Modi from the the temple city of Varanasi, which witnessed massive show of strength by both the outsiders, also attracting the attention of international media.

Congress' Ajay Rai, a 'local' backed by Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED), also wooed voters here as the high pitched canvassing saw allegations and counter-allegations flowing thick and fast between leaders of different hues.
On these 18 seats, Samajwadi Party had clinched six seats from the region, BSP 5, BJP 4 and Congress 3 in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Interestingly, BSP had registered marginal loss and ended up in the second place in 12 seats.

The Samajwadi Party supremo, besides sticking to his traditional bastion in Mainpuri, has thrown his hat into the ring from Azamgarh too.
However, unlike Mainpuri, Azamgarh may not be a cakewalk for him as he faces a tough fight from BSP's Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, Rastriya Ulema Council Chief Aamir Rashadi Madana, and Mulayam's own former associate Ramakant Yadav, who is now fighting on a BJP ticket.

While Mulayam is banking on his traditional Muslim-Yadav vote bank, division of Muslim votes by Madani and Guddu Jamali could benefit Ramakant.