UP sees over 57 percent voter turnout in phase six: As it happened

Prominent candidates in the fray include Bharatiya Janata Party's Swami Prasad Maurya (Padrauna) and jailed don Mukhtar Ansari contesting from Mau on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

Lucknow: Polling for 49 seats in the sixth and penultimate phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections began at 7 am on Saturday. The over 1.72 crore electorate will decide the fate of 635 candidates across seven districts in eastern UP.

Prominent candidates in the fray include Bharatiya Janata Party's Swami Prasad Maurya (Padrauna) and former state unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi (Pathardeva), and jailed don Mukhtar Ansari, contesting from Mau on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

04 March 2017

18:24 IST

57.03% voting in sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh elections till 5 pm, still counting, says Election Commission

15:46 IST

48.73 percent voting recorded till 3 pm in the sixth phase of UP elections 2017.

14:12 IST

Claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party will form the next government with an absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh says even political experts are of the same view.

"BJP storm is going on across eastern Uttar Pradesh. Now even political experts believe that BJP will form the government by a majority in Uttar Pradesh. (Purvanchal UP mein BJP ki hawa nahi, aandhi chal rahi hai. Ab toh rajnetik visheshagya bhi maante hain ki UP mein BJP ki puran bahut ki sarkaar banne ja rahi hai)," says Singh while on his way to Varanasi.

13:37 IST

37.85% voting recorded till 1 pm in the sixth phase of UP elections 2017.

12:38 IST

Hundreds of thousands of people from Kushinagar and Mau districts in Uttar Pradesh cast their votes in the first four hours of the penultimate sixth phase of the Assembly Elections, polling 30 and 27 percent respectively. Till 11 am, 25 percent voting was reported from Ballia, 23 percent from Maharajganj and Deoria, and 22 percent from Gorakhpur. Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav recorded the lowest turnout of 21 percent. 

11:47 IST

23.28 percent voting recorded till 11 am in the sixth phase of UP elections 2017.

11:01 IST

About 13 percent polling was witnessed in the first three hours of the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh elections in 49 Assembly seats that started amidst tight security arrangements this morning. "The polling was about 13 percent till 10 am. It's going on peacefully," office of UP Chief Electoral Officer says.

10:37 IST

Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore says other parties have been in UP for far too long now, but they haven't been able to bring any change. “The way PM Narendra Modi works for the entire nation, every youth of UP sees that and wants that sort of commitment for them as well,” adds Rathore.

09:48 IST

Around 11 percent of the 1.72 crore Uttar Pradesh voters exercised their franchise in the first two hours on Saturday as polling started on a slow pace for the 49 seats in the sixth phase, a poll official says.

09:07 IST

Mau: Voting affected due to problem in EVM machine at booth no. 273 at Nasirpur village.

07:47 IST

Special efforts have been made for differently-abled voters, they are being assisted by helpers and wheelchairs: Nikhil C Shukla, Mau District Magistrate

07:42 IST

The 84 km-long Indo-Nepal border has been sealed by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and only emergency vehicles will be allowed to cross the border, District Electoral Officer Virendra Kumar Singh says. Cameras have been installed on trade and transit points along India's border with Nepal to prevent illegal movement of people during polling.

07:41 IST

Maoists and the porous Indo-Nepal border are the two biggest challenges before the police in Maharajganj.

07:40 IST

Indo-Nepal border with Maharajganj and Gorakhpur, and the border with Bihar have been sealed. Police patrolling has been intensified along inter-district borders and barriers have been erected on highways to keep an eye on movements of vehicles.

07:35 IST

BJP is contesting 45 seats and its ally Apna Dal one. While BSP has fielded candidates on all 49 seats, SP is contesting 40 seats and Congress 9 seats under an alliance.

07:34 IST

The districts where polling is going on in the sixth phase are Mau, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh and Ballia. Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency has 10 Assembly seats, of which SP had won nine in 2012, but this time Mulayam has not addressed a single meeting in his parliamentary constituency.

07:28 IST

The prestige of Union minister Kalraj Mishra, who represents Deoria in the Lok Sabha, is at stake, besides that of BJP leader Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur).

07:18 IST

"I appeal to all in Uttar Pradesh to join this festival of democracy and vote in large numbers," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweets.

07:18 IST

Gorakhpur Lok Sabha MP and firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mahant Adityanath casts his vote at booth no 3705 in Gorakhpur. After casting his vote, Adityanath says that there was a wave in favour of the BJP and said that development, nationalism, and security for all were major poll planks for his party. 

07:10 IST

Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's Azamgarh is in focus,

07:06 IST

Maximum number of candidates are in Gorakhpur city where 127 candidates in fray for its nine seats, while the minimum number of candidates - seven - are in Mohammadabad Gohna seat in Mau. 

07:05 IST

Prominent candidates in the fray include Bharatiya Janata Party's Swami Prasad Maurya (Padrauna) and former state unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi (Pathardeva), and jailed don Mukhtar Ansari, contesting from Mau on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

07:03 IST

The over 1.72 crore electorate will decide the fate of 635 candidates across seven districts in eastern UP.

07:00 IST

Polling for 49 seats in the sixth and penultimate phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections began at 7 am on Saturday.