By PTI
LUCKNOW: Polling for the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 61 seats across 12 districts got off to a slow start on Sunday with just over eight per cent of the voters exercising their right in the first two hours of voting.
As many as 692 candidates are in the fray in this round including Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is contesting from Sirathu in Kaushambi district. He is pitted against Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) candidate Pallavi Patel.
The voting started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Around 2.24 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.
The polling percentage till 9 am is 8.02, as per ECI’s Voter turnout app. While Amethi recorded 8.67 per cent voting, Ayodhya had 9.44 per cent, Bahraich 7.45 per cent, Barabanki 6.21 per cent, Chitrakoot 8.80 per cent, Gonda 8.31 per cent, Kaushambi 11.40 per cent, Pratapgarh 6.95 per cent, Prayagraj 6.95 per cent, Raebareli 7.48 per cent, Shrawasti 9.67 per cent and Sultanpur 8.60 per cent, it said.
The districts where polling is being held are Sultanpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Barabanki, Bahraich, Shravasti and Gonda.
Amethi and Raebareli, once considered the Congress bastions, and Ayodhya, the epicentre of the Ram temple movement, too will vote on Sunday.
Some of the ministers in the fray are Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West, Rajendra Singh from Patti (Pratapgarh), Nand Gopal Gupta Nadi from Allahabad South and Ramapati Shastri from Mankapur (Gonda).
Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, who is the MLA from Kunda since 1993, is once again in the fray as the Jansatta Dal candidate, with old aide Gulshan Yadav contesting against him on the Samajwadi Party ticket.
Union minister Anupriya Patel’s mother and Apna Dal (K) leader Krishna Patel is contesting from the Pratapgarh seat.
The Apna Dal (K) has entered into an alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
Union minister Patel, heading a rival faction of the party named after her father Sonelal Patel, however, has handed over the seat to the BJP to challenge her mother Krishna Patel.
Congress Legislative Party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona is fighting from Rampur Khas of Pratapgarh.
With the completion of polling on Sunday, Uttar Pradesh will have voted on 292 of the total 403 seats in the Assembly.
The last two phases of the elections will be held on March 3 and 7. The results will be declared on March 10.
