UP Assembly polls phase 4: Dice begins to roll for 53 seats

Lucknow, Feb 23: Amid a thick blanket of security, polling for the fourth phase in 53 Assembly seats, covering 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, commenced hrs this morning. Election Commission sources said that the polling started at a smooth note in all the constituencies at 0700 hours and it will end at 1700 hrs. Sources said except for some teething problems on the operation of Electronic Voting Machines ( EVMs ) the polling was peaceful. Voters in Allahabad, Rae Bareli and Jhansi were witnessed making a beeline to the booths after morning walk to avoid late hour rush. The fourth phase will see a crucial contest in Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi; Allahabad, the home town of Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Keshav Prasad Maurya; Fatehpur, the political arena of Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Bundelkhand region represented by Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti. More than 2 lakh security personnel and 200 companies of Central forces are on their toes to ensure a free and fair poll. The fate of 680 candidates will be sealed by 1.84 crore voters at 19,487 polling booths of which 3,609 have been identified as hyper sensitive. There are around one crore male and 84 lakh female voters.The spotlight is also one 3,26,473 first time voters in the age group of 18 to19 years.