UP Election 2017: Voting in 51 seats in fifth phase of polls.
Uttar Pradesh votes for the fifth of its seven-phase elections today. The voting is being held across 11 districts, including five bordering Nepal. The 51 seats where polling is being held includes Amethi - the borough of the Gandhi family, which is represented in the Lok Sabha by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The shrill campaign that had started after the first 3 phases, continued in the run-up to this phase too, with comments from key political leaders, including Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, indicating a no-holds barred battle. This evening, the Central forces conducted flag march in the sensitive areas close to the Terai region in Nepal's foothills.
Here are the 10 facts in this big story:
The ruling Samajwadi Party won 37 seats of seats in 2012, the BJP and the Congress won five seats each, BSP had won three and Peace Party won two seats.
The five assembly constituencies under the parliamentary seat of Amethi have witnessed the maximum number of contestants in this phase -24.
The prominent contestants include Samajwadi Party's controversial minister Gayatri Prajapati, who will face Ameeta Sinh of the Congress and Garima Sinh of the BJP in Amethi. Ameeta Sinh is the wife of Congress leader Sanjay Sinh, Garima Sinh is his estranged spouse -- making it a a queen of all contestants.
The run-up to the high-decibel campaign for the fifth phase saw free flow of words like "donkey", "Kasab" and "Kabootar" -- taking the level of political discourse to a new low.
BJP president Amit Shah had coined the acronym "Kasab" - the lone Pakistani terrorist hanged for his role in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai -- for Congress (Ka), Samajwadi Party (Sa) and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (B). "Uttar Pradesh cannot be developed if they are not driven out of power," he said.
BSP chief Mayawati had hit back, dubbing Mr Shah a terrorist. "There cannot be a bigger Kasab than him," she said. Chief Minister Akhilesh had also hit out at Mr Shah for his Kasab barb, saying "KA" actually stood for "kabutar" (pigeon) and people will set the BJPs pigeons free this election.
With five of the districts going to poll not being far from the Nepal border, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Kanpur train tragedy, in which 150 people were killed, was due to a "conspiracy". The perpetrators, he said, had carried it out "sitting across the border" in Nepal.
PM Modi also hit back at Akhilesh Yadav for his "donkey" remark, saying he took "inspiration" from the donkey which works day and night for its master. "These 125 crore countrymen are my masters... I do all the work they ask me to do... with full pride," he had said.
Due to the death of Samajwadi Party candidate Chandrashekhar Kanaujia in Alapur (Ambedkar Nagar), the Election Commission has said voting will be held there on March 9.
The elections to the 403 seats of Uttar Pradesh are being held in seven phases starting February 11. The results will be announced on March 11.
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