Lucknow, Feb. 9 (PTI): The battle for Uttar Pradesh will begin on Thursday with polling scheduled to take place in 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts in the western part of the state.
Campaigning in the constituencies going to vote in the first round of the seven-phase election in the politically crucial state ended on Tuesday evening.
The polling will start at 7 am in these constituencies according to the guidelines of the Election Commission to ensure Covid-safe polls.
The voting will end at 6 pm.
Ministers whose fate will be decided in the first phase include Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain.
The canvassing for the first phase remained confined to the virtual medium due to a ban on road shows and physical rallies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Leading the campaign for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for a double-engine government for fast-paced development while attacking the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine.
While Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tried to put the spotlight back on alleged "exodus" of Hindus from Kairana before 2017, SP president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that people have made up their mind to vote out the BJP from power.
The SP-RLD alliance has centred their electioneering on farmers' issues and has attacked Adityanath over poll promises.
BSP chief Mayawati, who started campaigning late, reminded people of her government's track record on law and order in the past.
The Congress under the leadership of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has generated interest as seen in door-to-door campaigns.
The districts where the elections will be held are Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
As many as 623 candidates are in the fray in the first phase and around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.
In 2017, the BJP bagged 53 of the 58 seats, while the Samajwadi Party and the BSP had got two seats each. One seat had gone to the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
The Congress on Wednesday promised to waive farm loans and provide 20 lakh jobs in its Uttar Pradesh election manifesto, which also promised to provide INR 3,000 as compensation to farmers for crop damage by stray cattle.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra released the party's manifesto "Unnati Vidhan", which she termed as "Jan Ghoshna Patra'.
Two earlier manifestos -- "Shakti Vidhan" for women and "Bharti Vidhan" for youth -- has also been released by the party.
The BJP and the Samajwadi Party released their manifesto for the UP election on Tuesday.
Releasing the manifesto, Priyanka said, the Congress will purchase wheat and paddy at INR 2,500 per quintal as well as sugarcane at the rate of INR 400 per quintal, after coming to power.