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Journalism of Courage
The third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh recorded 57.8 per cent voter turnout till 5 pm, as per the Election Commission (EC). In the last election, the 13 districts that went to polls Sunday had recorded 62.36 per cent voter turnout. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav were among the candidates whose fate got sealed in Sunday’s polling.
As per EC data, Lalitpur polled the highest with 67.38 per cent voter turnout, followed by Etah with 63.58 per cent. The lowest voter turnout of 50 per cent was recorded in Kanpur. In the previous election as well, Lalitpur had recorded the maximum voting percentage of 72.05 per cent while Kanpur Nagar had the lowest voter turnout of 57.65 per cent.
The ruling BJP has fielded minister SPS Baghel against Akhilesh Yadav in Karhal while senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav is facing Vivek Shakya in Jaswantnagar. Former IPS officer and BJP candidate Asim Arun is facing Anil Dohre in the reserved constituency of Kannauj. Five-time BSP MLA Ramveer Upadhyay is contesting in Hathras as a BJP candidate this time.
The BJP had made a clean sweep in 10 out of the 16 districts last time, winning 47 of the 59 seats. The SP had won in 10 constituencies while the BSP and the Congress managed to clinch a seat each. In the 2012 election, the SP had won 37 seats while the BJP had won in only eight constituencies.
In this phase, there are 2.16 crore voters including 1.16 crore male voters and 99 lakh female voters. There are 627 candidates in the fray, including 97 women. Voting in the third phase was held across 25,794 polling booths and 15,557 voting centres. There were 641 model polling booths while 129 centres were operated by an all-women staff.
