Campaigning for the third phase polls in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will end on Sunday evening.
Polling in the third phase will be held on April 23.
The third phase poll in Rohilkhand region of UP will decide the fate of Union minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar (Bareilly), Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri), actor-turned-politician and BJP candidate Jaya Prada and SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan (Rampur), BJP candidate Varun Gandhi (Pilibhit) and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav (Firozabad).
Campaigning in this phase, the SP-BSP-RLD alliance sought vote for Mulayam Singh Yadav in Mainpuri on Friday.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi also addressed a meeting in Budaun in support of party candidate Salem Sherwani.
An interesting contest is being witnessed in Rampur where Jaya Prada of BJP is pitted against bitter rival and SP candidate Azam Khan. Recently, the Election Commission had banned Khan from electioneering for 72 hours for making derogatory remark against Jaya.
Leading the poll campaign of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed meetings in Moradabad on April 14 and at Etah and Bareilly on Saturday.
BJP president Amit Shah also addressed a couple of rallies in the constituencies going to poll in this phase, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath criss-crossed the region, addressing several rallies each day along with other senior leaders. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also campaigned rigorously in this phase.
The 10 constituencies going to polls in the third phase are Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun, Aonla, Bareilly and Pilibhit.
Except for Budaun and Mainpuri, the rest of the eight seats of this phase are held by the BJP. In most of the constituencies, there is a direct fight between the SP-BSP-RLD alliance and the BJP but the presence of Congress in some constituencies has queered the pitch, giving an edge to the BJP.
A strong 1.76 crore voters — 95.56 lakh males and 80.92 lakh females — are expected to exercise their franchise in the third phase of polls at 20,116 polling booths to decide the fates of 120 candidates in the fray.
