Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): A voter turnout of 46.70 per cent till 3 pm was recorded on Thursday while polling across 57 constituencies is underway for the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh elections, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). The voting began at 7 am today and will continue till 6 pm.
As per the EC data, Ambedkar Nagar has registered 52.42 per cent, Balia 46.50 per cent, Balrampur 42.51 per cent, Basti 46.30 per cent, Deoria 45.37per cent, Gorakhpur 46.46 per cent, Kushinagar 48.55 per cent, Maharajganj 47.59 44.62 per cent, Sant Kabir Nagar 44.62 per cent and Siddharthnagar recorded 45.60 per cent till 3 p.m.
The Ambedkar Nagar constituency has recorded the highest number of voter turnout (approximate trend) of 52.42 per cent till 3 p.m. while the constituency of Balrampur has recorded the lowest with 42.51 per cent so far.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cast his vote at Primary School Gorakhnath Kanya Nagar Kshetra, in Gorakhpur. Polling is being held for 57 Assembly constituencies spread across 10 districts including Gorakhpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ballia, Balrampur, Basti, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharthnagar.
The seats which are going to polls are Katehari, Tanda, Alapur (SC), Jalalpur, Akbarpur, Tulsipur, Gainsari, Utraula, Balrampur (SC), Shohratgarh, Kapilvastu (SC), Bansi, Itwa, Domariyaganj, Harraiya, Kaptanganj, Rudhauli, Basti Sadar, Mahadewa (SC), Menhdawal, Khalilabad, Dhanghata (SC), Pharenda, Nautanwa, Siswa, Maharajganj (SC), Paniyra, Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural, Sahajanwa, Khajani (SC), Chauri-Chaura, Bansgaon (SC), Chillupar, Khadda, Padrauna, Tamkuhi Raj, Fazilnagar, Kushinagar, Hata, Ramkola (SC), Rudrapur, Pathardeva, Rampur Karkhana, Bhatpar Rani, Salempur (SC), Barhaj, Belthara Road, Rasra, Sikandarpur, Phephna, Ballia Nagar, Bansdih and Bairiya.
A total of 2,14,62,816 electorates including 1,14,63,113 males, 99,98,383 females and 1,320 third genders are expected to exercise their right to franchise to decide the fate of 676 candidates.
With 676 candidates in the fray in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tops the chart of the prominent faces of this phase. The Chief Minister is contesting the polls from Gorakhpur Urban. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has pitted Khwaja Shamsuddin while Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Subhavati Shukla, who is the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath. Meanwhile, Congress' Chetna Pandey will also fight against Adityanath.
Besides Adityanath, prominent faces in this phase are state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who is contesting from Tamkuhi Raj seat, Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit as minister to join the Samajwadi Party and is contesting from Fazilnagar seat, and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary, who is contesting from Bansdih seat.
Congress' Ajay Kumar Lallu is facing BSP's Sanjay Gupta and SP's Udaynarayan Gupta on Tamkuhi Raj seat. SP's Swami Prasad Maurya will contest from Fazilnagar seat against BJP candidate Surendra Singh Kushwaha, the son of incumbent BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha. Maurya will face BSP's Ilyas Ansari, Congress' Sunil Singh and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Harish Chandra Yadav.
SP leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is facing Congress' Puneet Pathak on Bansdih seat. Puneet's grandfather, Bachha Pathak is a former vice president of the state Congress. His grandfather had been an MLA from Bansdih for seven terms between 1967 and 1996 and was also a minister in the UP government.
SP leader Ram Govind Chaudhary also faces Nishad Party's Ketki Singh and BSP's Manti Rajbhar. Polling for the seventh phase, which will be the last phase, will be held on March 7. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.
Read: BJP is 'losing' in UP, says Mamata while campaigning for SP
