UP Assembly final phase:54.18% voter turnout till 5 pm

In Uttar Pradesh, voting concluded for the seventh and final phase of the Assembly polls on Monday. Voting held on 54 seats in nine districts of Uttar Pradesh's Purvanchal region in this phase. A turnout of 54.18 per cent was recorded till 5 pm as Uttar Pradesh votes in the seventh and final leg of the Assembly elections on Monday. The highest percentage was recorded in Chandauli (59.54%), followed by Sonbhadra (56.86%) and Mau (55.01%).  The seventh phase of voting covers 54 seats decides the fate of 613 candidates. Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm in Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra districts.Of the 54 seats in this phase, 11 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and two for the Scheduled Tribes. There are 2.06 crore eligible voters. The final round of polling will also be a test of the alliances carved out by both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) with small caste-based parties.

Last time, the BJP and its allies swept the region. Six seats had gone to the BJP. Of the remaining two, one seat had gone to BJP ally Anupriya Patel's Apna Dal (S) and one to Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which is now partnering Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.