With the campaign for the Phase-III of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, scheduled on Wednesday, ending at 5 p.m. on Monday, eagerness was palpable among the eligible 1.77 crore voters to choose their nominees from among the 1,018 contestants in 56 constituencies.
The candidates include 77 women. The polls will cover 10 districts and be held in Assembly segments coming under the important Lok Sabha constituencies such as Amethi (represented by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi) and Sultanpur.
18,374 booths
Nearly 80.33 lakh voters are women and the Election Commission (EC) has set up 18,374 polling stations with the Obra Assembly segment having the highest number of 30 contestants.
Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla told The Hindu here that the EC observers had reported about conclusion of the campaign and the polling personnel, with their electronic voting machines, would arrive at the booths on Tuesday.
As the previous two phases of poll (out of seven) in U.P. had witnessed an average 16 per cent increase in the turnout of voters — it was 62 per cent in Phase-1 and 59 per cent in Phase-2 — compared to the Assembly polls held in 2007, officials are hopeful that Phase-3 too would witness a quantum jump in polling percentage.
Of the seats in this phase mostly located in the central and eastern regions of the State, only eight are Muslim-dominated.
Obra constituency has the highest number of 30 contestants
