Filing of nomination for third phase of UP polls from tomorrow

LUCKNOW: Filing of nominations for the third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh will start tomorrow with the issuance of notification for the February-19 poll.

In the third phase, 69 Assembly seats spread over 12 districts will go to polls.

The process of filing papers will continue till January 31 and the last date of withdrawal is February 4.

The polling in the state will be done in seven phases between February 11 and March 8 and counting of ballots will be on March 11.

The districts going to polls in the third phase are Farukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Unnao, Lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur.

In the 2012 Assembly polls, out of these 69 seats SP had won 55, while BSP and BJP secured 6 and 5 respectively while Congress had two. One seat went to an Independent.

Prominent among those whose prestige will be at stake is Nitin Agarwal, son of SP leader Naresh Agarwal. Also, BJP will have the challenge to fare well in Home Minister Rajnath Singh's parliamentary constituency Lucknow.

This phase includes Etawah, the native place of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and districts like Mainpuri, where Tej Pratap Yadav is an SP MP. From Kannauj Dimple Yadav, wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, is MP.

At 10 seats of Kanpur and Kanpur Dehat, over 33.5 lkah voters will exercise their franchise at more than 1,400 polling centres.

SP, BSP and BJP have announced their candidates for the 10 seats. Samajwadi Party has also fielded its candidate from Kidwainagar, which is currently with Congress. SP and Congress have forged a pre-poll alliance for the state polls.