Assembly polls 2017: Uttar Pradesh to vote in 7 phases for 403 seats

The first phase for 73 constituencies of 15 zillas will be held on February. The second phase of the elections will be held on February 15 for 67 constituencies of 11 zillas.

The state with the highest number of assembly constituencies, Uttar Pradesh is all set to go into assembly polls in seven phases. The Chief Election Commissioner of India Nasim Zaidi on Wednesday announced poll dates for the 403 assembly seat state assembly which will be held between February 11 and March 8.

Schedule for the polls

The first phase for 73 constituencies of 15 zillas will be held on February 11. The second phase of the elections will be held on February 15 for 67 constituencies of 11 zillas. The third phase of the polls is scheduled to take place on February 19 in 53 constituencies. Fourth phase on February 23, fifth phase of the UP elections will be held on February 27 for 52 constituencies. The sixth phase is scheduled for March 4 and the last and seventh phase polls to be held on March 8. Counting of votes and results of the polls will be announced on March 11 collectively for all five poll bounds states.

Status quo

The current Samajwadi party government in Uttar Pradesh currently enjoys a vote share of 29.13 per cent while Bahujan Samajwadi Party, which came in a close in 2012, stands at 25.91 per cent. The Bharatiya Janata Party that is trying to strengthen its base in Uttar Pradesh had a vote share of 15 per cent during previous assembly elections. The Congress party comes a distant fourth with 11.63 per cent vote share while Rashtriya Lok Dal stands fifth with vote share of a mere 2.33 per cent.

The SP currently holds 224 of the 403 seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly with BSP holding 80 seats. The BJP has 47 MLAs, the Congress has 28 members of assembly and RLD has 9. All parties apart from the SP saw a decline in number of seats won in 2012 in comparison to the 2007 polls.

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