UP election: Brisk voting in third phase

Prominent persons who voted early in the morning include Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Mayawati and Ramgopal Yadav.

Lucknow, Feb 19: Brisk voting has been reported from most of the 69 assembly seats which are going to polls on Sunday in the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Long queues have been seen in Lucknow, Kanpur and Etawah where people went early morning to cast their votes. Lucknow, which is generally less excited about exercising franchise, has also witnessed long queues outside polling stations.

Large crowds swarmed polling stations in Indiranagar, Gomtinagar, Aliganj Chowk in the old city and Aashiana. Many voters were out early morning so that they do not have to wait in long queues later in the day.

Prominent persons who voted here included Rita Bahuguna Joshi, former state Congress President and currently the BJP candidate from Lucknow Cantt seat. As many as 826 candidates are in the fray and their fate would be decided by 2.41 crore voters.

Prominent districts where polling is underway include Lucknow, Kanpur, Etawah, Kannauj, Etah and Mainpuri.

In this round, all eyes are set on major personalities such as former PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav's cousin Anurag Yadav, BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi, ministers Abhishek Mishra, Arvind Singh 'Gop', Fareed Mehmood Kidwai and the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ashutosh Tandon, Brajesh Pathak and the Bahujan Samaj Party's Nakul Dubey.

IANS