UP Live: 25% Voting Recorded in Fifth Phase of Polls Till Noon

• 25 percent voting in Uttar Pradesh’s fifth phase assembly elections till noon
  
• 51 assembly constituencies go into polls in this phase
  
• In all, around 1.84 crore voters will use their franchise to decide the fate of the candidates
  
• In the 2012 assembly polls, the SP had won 37 seats out of 52 (total seats in this phase including Alapur)
  
• Prominent contestants in this phase include controversial minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, Amita Singh and Garima Singh in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi
  
• There are a total of 608 candidates in the fray in the fourth phase, of which 43 are women
  

An estimated over 25 percent of voters exercised their franchise till midday on Monday in the fifth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh amid tight security, with all eyes focused on Amethi and Faizabad.

Polling is on by and large peacefully in 51 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts of the state.

"Over 25 percent polling was recorded till noon," poll officials said here.

The voting was slow in the first two hours but picked up pace as the day progressed.

Voting is underway in Ayodhya and Mahant Gyandas of Hanuman Gadi cast his vote at a polling booth.

BJP Leader Vinay Katiyar also cast his vote in Ayodhya.

Delhi HC on Monday rejected parole plea of don-politician, Mukhtar Ansari.

Ansari is going to stay in jail.

Also Read: Mukhtar Ansari’s Move to BSP Will Affect Mayawati’s Clean Image

Amid tight security, polling began this morning in 51 Assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh spread across 11 districts that figure in the fifth phase, with all eyes on the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough Amethi. Around 10.77 percent voting was recorded till 9 am.

Congress Amethi candidate Amita Singh cast her vote in Amethi with husband and Congress MP Sanjay Singh.

The Samajwadi Party’s Amethi candidate, Gayatri Prajapati, cast his vote. After voting he addressed the media and said, “I am winning with a huge margin and Samajwadi Party Government under Akhilesh ji will be in power again.”

Voting for 51 seats across 11 districts started in Uttar Pradesh.

Heavy security was deployed at polling booth number 127 and 128 in Ayodhya to maintain peace.

On Monday, phase five of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections commences. The parties contest for 51 seats and an electorate of 1.84 crore people will decide their fate.

The sensitive Terai region close to the foothills of Nepal and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh are ready for the fifth phase of polling tomorrow in 51 Assembly constituencies spread across 11 districts.

The districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi, and Sultanpur.

The polling for this phase of the election finished on Sunday.

In all, 608 candidates are in the fray in this phase with maximum of 24 candidates in Amethi and minimum of six each in Kapilvastu and Etwa seats of Siddharth Nagar district.

Due to death of Samajwadi Party candidate Chandrashekhar Kanaujia in Alapur (Ambedkar Nagar), the EC has announced fresh date of voting in this constituency on 9 March.

Also Read: ‘Rani’ vs ‘Rani’: BJP’s Garima Singh on Amethi’s Battle Royal

Prominent contestants in this phase include controversial minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati (SP), who will be facing Amita Singh (Congress) and Garima Singh (BJP) in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi.

Amita is the wife of Congress leader Sanjay Singh, while Garima is his estranged spouse, making it a "rani versus rani" contest.

1.84 crore voters, including 96 lakh women, will also decide the fate of ministers Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh from Tarabganj (Gonda), Tej Narain Pandey alias Pawan Pandey from Ayodhya and BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar from Akbarpur in this phase.

Also Read: BJP Will Win Absolute Majority in UP: Barkha Speaks With Rajnath

The ruling Samajwadi Party had won 37 seats out of 52 (total seats in this phase including Alapur) in 2012.

While BJP and Congress won five seats each, BSP had won three and Peace Party won two seats.

Shravasti, Balrampur, Sultanpur and Ambedkar Nagar districts had emerged as stronghold of Samajwadi Party which won all the seats there in 2012.

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