Voting in UP first phase today

Lucknow: The battle for Uttar Pradesh will begin on Thursday with polling scheduled to take place in 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts in Western UP. Campaigning in the constituencies going to vote in the first round of the seven-phase election in the politically-crucial state ended on Tuesday evening. The polling will start at 7 am in these constituencies according to the guidelines of the Election Commission to ensure Covid-safe polls.

The voting will end at 6 pm

Ministers whose fate will be decided in the first phase include Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain.

The canvassing for the first phase remained confined to the virtual medium due to a ban on road shows and physical rallies in the wake of the pandemic.

Leading the campaign for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for a double-engine government for fast-paced development while attacking the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine.

While Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath tried to put the spotlight back on alleged “exodus” of Hindus from Kairana before 2017, SP president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that people have made up their mind to vote out the BJP.