More than 55 per cent voting was recorded in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on Thursday. 57 seats in eastern UP, spread across 10 districts, went to polls today. Among the most prominent candidates was Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is contesting his first assembly poll from Gorakhpur. Mr Adityanath offered prayers at Gorakhnath Temple before casting his vote from his stronghold this morning.
With voting for 292 out of the state's 403 assembly seats already over, the focus has shifted to the crucial Purvanchal region of the state, which has 111 seats - more than a quarter of the total.
The BJP had won 46 of the 57 seats in the 2017 polls. There are a total of over 2.14 crore voters in this phase.
The Chief Minister being in the contest this time has spurred expectations of a big victory in all nine assembly seats under the Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency. The Samajwadi Party has pitted the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against the Chief Minister. Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also in fray from the seat.
The outcome in this phase will largely depend on the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Most Backward Castes (MBCs) who have influence on nearly 30 seats.
The 54 remaining seats will go to polls in the last phase of the election on March 7. The votes will be counted on March 10.
