UP polls 6th phase highlights: 53.31% polling recorded till 5pm

Voter turnout till 5pm across 57 assembly constituencies in 10 districts recorded at 53.31%. The turnout stands at 53.89% in Gorakhpur.

PM Narendra Modi interacted with students who had returned from Ukraine in Varanasi during the day. The students, who hail from Varanasi and other parts of Uttar Pradesh, shared their experiences with him.

In the ongoing sixth phase of UP elections, the voter turnout till 3pm has been recorded at 46.70%.

West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday hit back at the BJP, saying she is not “scared” and is not a “coward” during her joint rally in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav. “I am a fighter. I faced thrashings and bullets several times in my life. But I never bowed down. Yesterday, when they were surrounding me, I got down from my car and faced them to see what they can do. They are cowards,” she told the public meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Jaunpur where he says that his BJP government “provided free ration to poor people” during Covid-19 pandemic. “We provided free ration to poor people during #COVID19, administered vaccine free of cost. Our govt is working for poor people of the country,” he adds, according to ANI.

36.33% polling recorded till 1pm

Security personnel patrolling on India-Nepal border in Balrampur district. The international border has been sealed in view of the election in UP.

21.79% polling till 11am in 57 assembly constituencies of 10 districts in UP

District administration officers felicitate an elderly voter at a booth in the Siddharthnagar district.

A voter arrives on a tractor to vote in Kulhui area of Maharajganj district.

Among those who cast their votes in the morning included Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi, Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chowdhury, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, minister Upendra Tiwari and former minister Narad Rai.

“We will win all 9 seats in the Gorakhpur mandal. Voter turnout will be historic in the Purvanchal region. BJP will get over 300 seats. The construction of Ram Temple is underway. Now, the people UP have decided to establish 'Ram Rajya' here,” BJP MP Ravi Kishan said. 

In the cramped lanes of Baghara, live dreams. Nearly every building has room after claustrophobic room, where young students live and study cloistered together, in the hope they will find work, and perhaps move to a big city. Every inch of wall has the poster of a commerce training institute, or English-speaking classes, or a public services coaching centre or a digital library, that are meant to facilitate an escape from a life lived in relative penury. Full story

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged those eligible to vote in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. The prime minister posted on Twitter and reminded people that every vote counts in the 'festival of democracy'. Read

Till 9am on Thursday, 8.69% of polling was recorded.

“I hope people will vote in large numbers. Under PM Modi leadership BJP will make a record & will win large number of seats. We will win over 80% seats. Vote for development & security, vote for BJP,” Chief Minister Adityanath said. 

Ahead of the last two phases of the seven-phase UP polls, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will reach out to Dalits, backward classes, and weaker sections in her visit to Kabir Chaura Math in Varanasi. She is expected to stay at the math for the next three days, sources told news agency ANI. Varanasi is slated to go to the polls in the seventh phase of the polls.