Over two lakh security personnel will be deployed in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of eastern Uttar Pradesh that go to polls in the seventh and last phase on Sunday.
The fates of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi), Union ministers Manoj Sinha (Ghazipur) and Apna Dal (Sonelal) founder Anupriya Patel (Mirzapur), BJP state chief Mahendra Nath Pandey (Chandauli), Bhojpuri actor and BJP candidate Ravi Kishan (Gorakhpur) would be decided in this phase.
Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm in over 26,000 booths except for three Assembly segments of Robertsganj Lok Sabha constituency —Dudhi, Chakia and Robertsganj — where polling will end two hours earlier at 4 pm.
Along with 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, bypoll to Agra (North) Assembly seat will also be held on May 19.
State Chief Electoral Officer L Venkateshwarlu said in Lucknow on Saturday that polling parties had been dispatched to their respective booths.
He said that in view of the ongoing heat wave conditions, district authorities had been directed to provide basic facilities like drinking water and sheds to voters.
The state government has deployed over 200 companies of Central Para-Military Forces (CPMF) besides PAC and district police for security of the polling booths.
To instil confidence among voters, CPMF personnel took out flag marches in vulnerable areas.
The Election Commission has ordered special security arrangements in Ghosi, Ghazipur, Ballia, Mirzapur and Gorakhpur in view of its previous history of violence during the polls.
There are 167 candidates in the fray in this phase. The constituencies going to polls on Sunday include Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all these seats, but in the bypoll to Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency, the Samajwadi Party had wrested the seat from the ruling party.
A total of 2.36 crore voters — 1.28 crore males and 1.08 crore female — are eligible to cast their votes in over 26,000 polling booths.
Varanasi has the highest number of 26 candidates followed by 15 each in Ghosi and Salempur, 14 each in Maharajganj, Kushinagar and Ghazipur, 13 in Chandauli, 12 in Robertsganj, 11 in Deoria, 10 each in Ballia and Gorakhpur, nine in Mirzapur and four in Bansgaon.
The epicentre of campaigning in this phase was Varanasi, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election. Another constituency crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party is Gorakhpur, where the stakes are high for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, it being his citadel. BJP has fielded Bhojpuri film star Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur.
