Voting underway for third phase of local elections in India's Uttar Pradesh

Voting for the third phase of local elections in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Sunday began amid tight security and adequate arrangements, officials said.

Polling in the 69 constituencies spread over 12 districts started at 7:00 a.m. local time (0130 GMT) and would go on until 5:00 p.m. (1130 GMT).

Reports said long queues of people, including women both young and old, were seen waiting to cast their ballots at the designated polling booths.

"The districts which are going for polls in this phase are Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Etawah, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Auraiya, Lucknow, Unnao, Sitapur and Barabanki," an election official said. "Polling is going on smoothly barring some minor incidents and about 24 percent polling has been recorded until 11:00 a.m. local time."

Uttar Pradesh's top political heavyweights on Sunday casted their votes in the third phase.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav were seen entering the polling booths to cast their votes.

Likewise top BJP leaders from the state, including Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, exercised his franchise.

The state's opposition leader and former chief minister Mayawati also cast her vote in Lucknow. Later on coming out from the polling booth, she told media her party will emerge victorious in the elections.

Over 826 candidates from 105 political parties are contesting in the third phase.

The previous two phases recorded over 64 and 65 percent voter turnout in the state.

Uttar Pradesh with a population of 200 million is the most populous state in India.

The local elections in Uttar Pradesh is seen as a referendum to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision of demonetization - a step to ban high value currency notes.

Modi's Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) won 71 seats from Uttar Pradesh during 2014 India's general election. Modi, who is basically from the western state of Gujarat, also managed to get elected from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi constituency.

Modi's radical move in November last year led to a cash shortage and was opposed by all opposition parties besides common people, who faced lot of hardships in banks.

Ahead of elections, regional Samajwadi Party, which was ruling the state forged an alliance with Congress Party to regain power for the second consecutive term.

Political analysts said BJP is facing competition from the alliance besides another regional player - Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has following among the low-caste Dalits and some Muslims.

Counting of votes, according to India's Election Commission, would be carried out on March 11.

source: Xinhua