UP elections: Fifth phase today , 692 in fray

Lucknow: Polling to decide the fate of 692 candidates in the fray for 61 Assembly seats across 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh took place in the fifth phase of the state assembly elections on Sunday. Polling will start at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, the state Chief Election Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said.

Around 2.24 crore voters will exercise their franchise in this phase in the districts of Sultanpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Barabanki, Bahraich, Shravasti and Gonda. Amethi and Raebareli, once considered Congress bastions and Ayodhya, the epicentre of the Ram temple movement, will also go to vote.

Prominent faces in the fray for the fifth phase include Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is contesting from the Sirathu seat in Kaushambi district. He is facing Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) candidate Pallavi Patel. Other ministers in the fray are Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West, Rajendra Singh, alias Moti 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 from his party Jansatta Dal with old aide Gulshan Yadav contesting against him on an SP ticket. Union minister Anupriya Patel who heads a separate party of her own has handed over the seat to the BJP to challenge her mother Krishna Patel, who is contesting on an Apna Dal (K) leader ticket from the Pratapgarh seat. Apna Dal (K) is allied with the Samajwadi Party.

Meanwhile, Congress legislative party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona is fighting from Rampur Khas seat of Pratapgarh. By 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 andMarch 7 - PTI.