strongholds Kannauj, Mainpuri and Etawah besides Lucknow (the Lok Sabha constituency of Rajnath Singh), Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Unnao, Barabanki and Sitapur.
strongholds Kannauj, Mainpuri and Etawah besides Lucknow (the Lok Sabha constituency of Rajnath Singh), Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Unnao, Barabanki and Sitapur.
Etawah is the native place of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, while Mainpuri is represented in Lok Sabha by SP's Tej Pratap Yadav. Dimple Yadav, the wife of Akhilesh, is the MP from Kannauj.
The leaders, after casting their votes, claimed that their parties will form the next government in the state.
Mayawati, who cast her vote in the Mall Avenue area in Lucknow, told reporters that BSP would win over 300 of the 403 seats.
"Unlike the Congress and BJP, I am not saying this without any basis. The way the people are attending my rallies, I can say that I am going to form the next government. The people of the state want change as they are fed up with the misrule and 'goonda raj' of SP," she said.
In a similar refrain, Rajnath Singh claimed that the BJP would secure an absolute majority in UP.
In Saifai, Akhilesh said, "The voters have made up their mind in favour of the SP-Congress alliance." Polling in this phase began slowly but picked up pace later. There were reports of minor skirmishes between the supporters of the candidates at some polling booths.
SP leader and Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Yadav complained that his supporters were attacked by the "political opponents" in his Jaswantnagar constituency.
In the 2012 Assembly polls, the SP had won 55 of these 69 seats, while the BSP, BJP and Congress had secured only six, five and two seats respectively. One seat was won by an Independent.
Duputy Election Commissioner Dev said in Delhi that 28,167 Electronic Voting machines (EVMs) were used for the polls, of these 167 had to be replaced due to technical reasons.
Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were also used in five constituencies under Lucknow and Kanpur areas. Of these, 47 had to be replaced for some issues, the officer said.
VVPAT machines, which are attached to EVMs, generate a slip to verify that a vote has been cast correctly.
Dev said 208 flying squads and 237 static surveillance teams were formed to ensure cash and liquors are not used to lure voters.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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