With barely a few days left for the first phase of polls in Manipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi began his campaign in the state. His visit comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to hold a massive rally in the state. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, meanwhile, held a roadshow in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow. The fourth phase of the seven-phased UP election will take place on February 23.
Uttar Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 60.1 per cent in the third of the seven phase polls in the state while Punjab reported 63 per cent polling. The average voter turnout for the single-phase election to the 117-member assembly in Punjab was 63.44 per cent, according to the state chief electoral office, while in Uttar Pradesh, where 59 constituencies went to polls in phase three, it was 60.63 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Sunday issued a notice to a BJP candidate in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly making an inflammatory statement, and said he prima facie violated the model code and the electoral law. The poll watchdog gave Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh, the BJP candidate from the Tiloi assembly constituency in Amethi, 24 hours to respond.
Counting of votes in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, along with Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, will take place on March 10.