Over 58% voting was recorded till 7 pm on Sunday in 59 assembly constituencies in the third phase of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, while over 63% voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm in Punjab, where the polling for all 117 Assembly was held amid tight security arrangements.
In UP, the polling started at 7 a.m. and continued till 6 p.m. The voting percentage at 7 p.m. was 58.07%, according to Election Commission. As many as 627 candidates are in the fray in this phase, in which over 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in 16 districts.
Among the high-profile candidates are SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the Karhal assembly seat. The BJP has fielded Union Minister S P Singh Baghel against him.
Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav is contesting from his traditional Jaswantnagar seat.
According to the Election Commission of India, Etah witnessed the highest voter turnout of 42.24% followed by Lalitpur (42.12% ) and Manpuri (41.14%) till 1 pm during the third phase.
Punjab: Polling in Punjab ended at 6 pm and final voting figure till 7 p.m. was 63.94%. The voting had started at 8 am. A total of 1,304 candidates, including 93 women and two transgenders, are in the fray. According to state election office, an average voter turnout of 63.94% was recorded till 7 pm.
Mansa recorded a maximum voter turnout of 73.45 while Malerkotla recorded 72.84 per cent polling till 5 pm. Punjab is witnessing a multi-cornered contest among the Congress, AAP, SAD-BSP, BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, a political front of various farmer bodies.