Fifty three Assembly constituencies went to the polls in the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Thursday.
Here are the updates:
7.30 p.m.: PTI reports: Final turnout figure likely to go up to 63 per cent, sources say.
6.45 p.m.: Fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh polls sees 61% turnout till 5 p.m., the Election Commission says.
4.55 p.m.: PTI reports that around 55% turnout is recorded till 4 p.m.
2.25 p.m.: PTI reports that over 40% of 1.84 crore voters exercise their franchise till 2 p.m. in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
“Polling is underway at a brisk pace in 53 Assembly constituencies, spread over 12 districts, including the backward Bundelkhand region,” says the Chief Electoral Officer's office in Lucknow.
The pace of voting picks up in the course of the day after going slow in the first few hours.
12:15 p.m.: An estimated 25 to 27 per cent polling was recorded till midday.
11:15 a.m.: An estimated 12 to 15 per cent of voters turn out to exercise their franchise till 10 am.
The pace of voting was initially slow but picked up gradually as the day advanced, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said.
10:00 a.m.: 10.2% polling was recorded.
8:50 a.m.: In Rae Bareli, Aditi Singh is contesting on Congress ticket; BSP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya’s son Utkarsh Maurya is in the fray from Unchahar seat, while the Leader of the Opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar is contesting from the Naraini (Banda) seat.
Senior SP leader Reoti Raman Singh’s son Ujjwal Raman Singh is in the race for the Karchana (Allahabad) seat.
8:30 a.m.: The prominent contestants, include sitting Congress MLA Aradhana Mishra from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh), the daughter of MP Pramod Tiwari, and independent MLA and minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who is again contesting from his traditional Kunda (Pratapgarh) seat.
8:15 a.m.: Patrolling by security forces has been intensified in poll-bound areas and most of the polling centres are manned by the central paramilitary forces.
8:00 a.m.: As Bundelkhand votes, things appear to be poised for a three-way fight, reports Omar Rashid
7:30 a.m.: The constituency with the maximum number of candidates is Allahabad North, where 26 candidates are trying their luck at the hustings.
The seats with least number of candidates are Khaga and Kunda, which have six candidates each, reports IANS .
7:15 a.m.: There are a total of 680 candidates in the fray in this phase of polls, of which 61 are women.
7:00 a.m.: Voting begins.
