Voting for the fourth phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections began from Wednesday in 59 Assembly constituencies across nine districts. An intensive campaign ahead of the fourth phase ended on Monday, February 21. The fourth phase will see 624 candidates in the fray. The polling began in all the districts at 7am and will conclude at 6pm. Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as principal contenders.
State capital Lucknow and the hotbed of farmers’ protest, Lakhimpur Kheri will go into polling today. Other districts, which are voting today, include Pilibhit, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Banda and Fatehpur.
Lakhimpur Kheri will see a tough battle for Union Minister Ajay Misra, whose son Ashish Misra, is a murder accused in a case involving the death of eight people including four farmers during a protest in October.
Among the prominent contenders of the fourth phase are Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brajesh Pathak, who is facing Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate and two-time Corporator, Surendra Singh Gandhi, in the Lucknow Cantonment, SP's national spokesperson Anurag Bhadauria, former SP minister Abhishek Mishra, and former Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly deputy speaker Nitin Agarwal. Besides, today’s polling will also decide the fate of sitting MLA from Rae Bareli Aditi Singh, as well as Unnao rape victim's mother Asha Singh, who is contesting from a Congress seat.
According to several reports, 167 out of the 621 contesting candidates have criminal cases against them. Further, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) states that 27 per cent of candidates contesting in the fourth phase of the assembly elections are facing criminal cases, while 37 per cent have declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore. Among the parties, 30 out of 57 candidates from SP, 26 out of 59 candidates from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 31 out of 58 candidates from Congress, 23 out of 57 candidates from BJP, and 11 out of 45 candidates from AAP have declared criminal cases against them.
The voting will be held at around 13,800 polling stations in nearly 24,500 polling booths in 208 police station areas. Over 800 paramilitary forces and 60,000 policemen have been stationed at the polling booths for security purposes. A total of 137 pink booths have been made to encourage women for voting.
BJP candidate from Raebareli Sadar seat, Aditi Singh cast her vote at a polling booth in Lalpur Chauhan. "I want people to vote and make the voting percentage high. Congress is nowhere in the race," she said.
BSP chief Mayawati also cast her vote at the Municipal Nursery School polling booth in Lucknow.
Voting for the remaining three phases of the seven-phase UP elections will take place on February 27, March 3, and 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
