Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): Polling for the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections has begun in 59 constituencies at 7 AM on Wednesday. The fate of 624 candidates including Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brajesh Pathak, sitting MLA from Rae Bareli Aditi Singh, former joint director of Enforcement Directorate Rajeshwar Singh and Unnao rape victim's mother Asha Singh will be sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) today. 59 Assembly seats are spread across the districts of Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda, and Fatehpur.
The state is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress as principal contenders.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shuka had said on Tuesday that the "polling for the fourth phase will be conducted with neutrality and transparency. He further noted that a total of 6.24 crore voters will be going to polls, of whom 1.14 are male, 99.3 lakh are female and 966 are transgender. Out of the 624 candidates, 91 are women.
Elections in Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases and will conclude on March 7. Voting for the remaining three phases will take place on February 27, March 3, and 7. Besides UP, polling for assembly elections in Goa and Uttarakhand has recently concluded. Manipur will go to the polls in two phases- on February 28 and March 5. The counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur will take place on March 10.
