Polling Underway for Sixth Phase of Polls in India's Uttar Pradesh, State Chief's Bastion at Stake

In the last state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the currently ruling Bharatiya Janata Party secured a thumping victory, winning 312 of the 403 seats available. The party is now contesting to retain power in the state, with the Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) the main contenders.

Polling for the sixth of seven phases of legislative assembly elections in 10 districts of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh began on Thursday morning, with many political heavyweights, including State Chief Yogi Adityanath of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), vying with others for victory.

In this penultimate phase, the polling is happening in 57 constituencies which started at 7 a.m. (IST) and will last until 6 p.m.

The districts where polling is going on are Ambedkarnagar, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, and Ballia.

Uttar Pradesh State Chief Yogi Adityanath is contesting from his home turf Gorakhpur. His party's main opposition, the Samajwadi Party, has pitted the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP politician, against him.

Azad Samaj Party founder and prominent Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad is also running against Adityanath.

Aside from Adityanath, other prominent politicians in the fray are State Congress President Ajay Kumar Lallu from the Tamkuhi Raj constituency and Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit the BJP ahead of the polls and joined the Samajwadi Party, from the Fazilnagar constituency.

With voting for 292 of the state assembly's 403 seats over, the polling has now moved to the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh where 111 seats are up for grabs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who belongs to the BJP, has urged voters to turn out in huge numbers and participate in a "festival of democracy".

He said in a tweet in Hindi: "The festival of democracy in Uttar Pradesh has entered its sixth phase today. It is my humble request to all voters that they must participate in this festival with their votes. Every vote of yours is the strength of democracy!"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges voters to participate in the election.

© Photo : Twitter/ @narendramodi

State Chief Yogi Adityanath also cast his ballot, and shared his picture from the polling booth making a "V" sign for victory.

Uttar Pradesh state chief casts his vote in the sixth phase of state assembly polls.

© Photo : Twitter/@myogiadityanath

After casting his vote, he said: "I hope people will vote in large numbers. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP will make a record and win a large number of seats. We will win over 80 percent of the seats".

He also urged voters to vote for development and security.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party candidate Subhavati Shukla, who is running against State Chief Adityanath, claimed that women and the sisters of Gorakhpur were in her corner.

"CM (State Chief) Yogi got my husband defeated in the by-election and after his death, left my family on the road", she said. "(Samajwadi Party Chief) Akhilesh Yadav considers me his mother and said that he is my third son".

The Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections are crucial as they are seen as a prelude to the 2024 parliamentary elections where the BJP will once again look to retain power for a third consecutive term.