63% vote in 3rd phase UP polls

Lucknow: Over 63 per cent voting was recorded till 5 pm on Sunday in 59 Assembly constituencies in the third phase of the elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Polling started at 7 am and continued till 6 pm.

The voting percentage at 5 pm was 57.58 per cent, according to data shared by the Election Commission (EC).

The percentage was 59 per cent in Hathras, 57.41 per cent in Firozabad, 59.11 per cent in Kasganj, 63.58 per cent in Etah, 60.80 per cent in Mainpuri, 54.55 per cent in Farrukhabad, 60.28 per cent in Kannauj and 58.35 per cent in Etawah.

It was 57.55 per cent in Auraiya, 58.48 per cent in Kanpur Dehat, 50.76 per cent in Kanpur Nagar, 53.84 per cent in Jalaun, 57.71 per cent in Jhansi, 67.38 per cent in Lalitpur, 57.90 per cent in Hamirpur and 62.02 per cent in Mahoba. As many as 627 candidates are in the fray in this phase, in which over 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in 16 districts.

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the polling percentage in these districts was 62.21 per cent, the EC said.

The BJP in 2017 had won 49 of the 59 seats and the Samajwadi Party (SP) had settled for nine. The Congress had got one seat while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) drew a blank.

Among the high-profile candidates are SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the Karhal Assembly seat. The BJP has fielded Union Minister S P Singh Baghel against him.

Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav is contesting from his traditional Jaswantnagar seat.

The prominent political leaders who cast their votes on Sunday were SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ramgopal Yadav, Congress leader Salman Khurshid, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and state minister Satish Mahana.