Phase three of polling in UP, Punjab casts its votes today

While Phase III of polling has started in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab is voting for its assembly election in a single phase in the state.

The total constituencies that will go for voting in Uttar Pradesh are fifty nine which are spread over sixteen districts. On the other hand, Punjab has 117 constituencies which are going for polls.

The most prominent voting site among all in Uttar Pradesh is Karhal seat in Mainpuri which is a known stronghold of the former Chief Minister of the state Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family. This seat has become a prestigious one because the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting election from here.

Previous records show that Yadav has an edge over other candidates as this seat has always gone to Yadav except for one occasion since 1992 when the Samajwadi Party came into existence. Since the majority of voters belong to the Yadav community, Akhilesh Yadav becomes a favourite choice for them.

The BJP has given tickets to Union Minister SP Singh Baghel from this seat as the party thinks that he can give a good fight to Akhilesh Yadav.

Besides Akhilesh, in the third phase of polling, there are many other prominent faces in the election in Uttar Pradesh such as Shivpal Singh Yadav who is contesting from Jaswantnagar. He is the uncle of Akhilesh. Satish Mahana (Maharajpur in Kanpur), Ramveer Upadhayay (Sadabad in Hathras), Asim Arun (Kannauj Sadar) from the BJP and Louise Khurshid (Farrukhabad Sadar) from the Congress Party are also the big names.