The phase two elections for 67 constituencies across 11 districts in Uttar Pradesh begins today. This election for the most populous state witnessed a triangular contest between BJP, BSP and Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance. The stakes are high for the Samajwadi Party in the phase two polls as they have previously performed extremely well across most of the constituencies in the 2012 Lok Sabha elections.
In Uttarakhand, around 74.20 lakh voters will make or break the fate of 628 candidates as 69 assembly constituencies out of 70 are spread across 13 districts that will be participating in the elections. Also, the elections for Karnaprayag have been postponed to March 9 because of the death of BSP candidate Kuldeep Singh in a road accident on Sunday.
#UttarPradesh: MoS Finance Santosh Gangwar casts his vote at polling booth no. 60 in Bareilly with wife Saubhagya Gangwar pic.twitter.com/TIRZqe9Ikb
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 15, 2017
The first phase of elections was important with high stakes for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress in the assembly polls. But the second phase of elections is crucial for the ruling Samajwadi Party. The SP has vigorously carried out campaigning not only in the city but also over the social media with the hashtag #VoteforCycle trending in twitter and Facebook feed. The 2012 elections saw Samajwadi Party with 34 seats out of the 67 seats, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party with 17, BJP 10 and Congress 4. Also, smaller parties like Peace Party and Ittehadul-E-Millat Council won one seat each.
The voters of Aminabad in Bijnor district of UP have boycotted the elections completely as they saw no development after the last elections. By 9 A.M., Uttar Pradesh witnessed a 10.75 percent voters casting their votes. Moradabad witnessed 11 percent voting and 12 percent in Saharanpur.
