Polling for the third and final phase covering 26 districts began on Sunday. Voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security.

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Voting begins in second phase of UP polls

Booth number 254-255 in Lucknow's Sarojini Nagar reports EVM malfunctioning. There has been no voting in this booth since morning.

According to reports, the name of GVG Krishnamorrthy, one of the central election commissioners in the 1990s, is missing in the voter list in Ghaziabad.

After GVC Krishnamoorthy name was missing from Ghazibad voter list, reports claim that even state minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi's name is missing from voter list in Lucknow.

Keshav Prasad Maurya and his wife caste their vote in Allahabad

Mathura municipality goes to poll today but MP Hema Malini is once again not in her constituency. However, Janardhan Sharma, PRO, said that Hema is not a eligible to vote as she is officially a resident of Vrundavan's Sunrakh Bangar, which does not come under the municipal limits.

According to reports, votes are not being registered by several EVM machines in Lucknow. Authorities have ordered replacement of such faulty EVMs at several places.

Six percent voting until 9 am in Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.

Balia has recorded a voter turnout of 12 percent till 9 am. While Aligarh has recorded a slightly lower turnout of nine percent, 9.5 percent of voters have cast their votes in Shahjahanpur till 9 am.

The voting booth at RVM Inter College saw some ugly scenes on Sunday after the authorities exposed bogus voting there, Security has also been beefed up while several fake Aadhaar and Pan card have also been seized.

Several issues plague EVM machines in Ghaziabad. According to reports, the display on the machines do not show the timing as well as the date. The amchines do not show the ballot unit number as well as the control unit number. The authorities are on an overdrive to replace these machines.

The Varanasi Police arrests eight women and two men on charges of alleged bogus voting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency goes to poll today.

​According to reports, names of several employees at Raj Bhavan are missing from voter lists this year. The employees have registered a strong protest against the mistake.

The DM of Farrukhabad, Monica Rani, has allegedly slapped an ARO rank officer, Deependra, who was deployed for polling duty in Farrukhabad.

This tweet by Shrikant Sharma could be a violation of the Election code of Conduct as polling in Mathura is underway.

There are reports of a firing outside a polling booth in Shahjahanpur. According to reports, three youths on motorcycle began shooting indiscriminately. Police immediately cordoned off the area, while security has been beefed up in and around the polling booth.

UP BJP chief confident of a win, urges voters to exercise their right to vote

The latest report has come from Ghaziabad, where five men have been detained by the police for bogus voting.

At least 10 people have been detained in Allahabad's Sirsa Nagar Panchayat for voting in the election with fake Aadhaar Cards.

People in Bahraich standing in line to cast their vote

Clashes between communities in Aligarh over allegations of bogus voting

Virbhadra Nishad's name is missing from the voter list in Varanasi. He is the same man who seconded Narendra Modi's candidacy during the nomination for the Varanasi seat in 2014.

Name of Varanasi man, who seconded Modi in 2014, missing

Police detained a BJP and an Independent candidate over poll irregularities in Hariharpur. According to reports, Ravindra Pratap Shahi and his four supporters have been detained by police.

Police has arrested a man named Sunil Gupta for allegedly bribing voters. The incident took place in Mohalla Katra Bakshi in Farrukhabad, say reports

Clashes between two communities in Aligarh over bogus voting

Not just the common man but politicians are also facing issues due to faulty voter lists. Former union minister Kalraj Mishra's name is also missing from the voter list in Lucknow.

Police has seized Rs 52,000 from a close aide of a local BSP candidate. Police, who seized the cash during a surprise check, have arrested the man. Investigations is underway, say reports.

"Different tasks have been assigned to the 31 MLAs, ranging from actively campaigning for the party candidates to organising various events to galvanise public support for the party," state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told PTI.

Leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the saffron party emerges victorious in the ongoing urban local bodies polls in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has assigned tasks to 31 MLAs, whose Assembly constituencies do not have a nagar panchayat or nagar palika parishad within their limits.

According to Uttarpradesh.org , the state capital has recorded a total of 15 percent voter turnout till 12 noon. On the other hand, Varanasi has recorded a better voter turnout at 20 percent during the same time.

As of 12 pm, Gautam Buddha Nagar has recorded a total voter turnout of 31.59 percent, which is the highest among all the municipalities in Uttar Pradesh.

Over 3.36 crore voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise at 36,269 polling booths. These polls, which are being held eight months after the BJP came to power in the state with a landslide victory, will mark the first electoral test for the Yogi Adityanath government.

Union minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma on Sunday cast their votes in the second phase of the civic polls, polling for which is underway in 25 districts.

State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal also exercised his franchise and appealed to the people to cast their votes. "If you want basic amenities in your city, you should come out of your home and vote in large numbers," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress on Sunday accused the police of ill-treating voters as well as its party workers. Party spokesperson Ashok Singh also requested the State Election Commission to intervene in the case.

While Lucknow recorded the lowest voter turnout of 15 percent, Shravasti recorded the highest voter turnout of 35.46 percent.

Even the old are not to be left behind in the poll season

According to reports, an area in Lucknow called Muhalla Hanumanpuri is totally missing from the voter list. People in the area are angry with the authorities, with the needle of suspicion over the BLO.

As of 12 pm, Mathura recorded a total voter turnout of a little over 25 percent.

Residents of Thakurdwara in Muzaffarnagar raised a banner of protest after many of the names were missing in the voter list on Sunday.

Protesters raise slogans against BLO after they were barred from voting

Overall, there has been a slow voter turnout in Bahraich ​

EVM controversies plague Shahjahanpur. A dispute broke out in Ahmadullah Shah Junior High School Polling Station in Thana Sadar Bazar. Uttar Pradesh Police had to resort to lathi charges to defuse the situation. A heavy police presence was seen in the area after the tussle. Voting also had to be momentarily halted due to these issues. Meanwhile, Lalitpur had a slightly better voter turnout as compared to Bahraich at 3 pm.

A lekhpal was found drunk in Shahjahanpur while on duty. The lekhpal, Jagdish, was found inebriated in the tehsildar's government vehicle. He has been arrested and a case has been filed by the police.

Voters in Faijullahganj ward 73 in Lucknow refuse to vote after many citizens find their names missing from the voters' list.

Youth attempts suicide in Shahjahanpur, taken into custody by police

Candidates contesting in Bahraich district are concerned by the low turnout and voter indifference.

Civic polls in Ambedkar Nagar district continue as three nagar palikas and two nagar panchayats continue voting. The results in all these five constituencies stand at 53.20% at 3.30 pm.

​Risiya sub-inspector Saalu Singh misbehaved with a media person at Devipur polling booth. Singh tore and threw away the entry pass of the journalist, which urged Bahraich Superintendent of Police Jugul Kishore to remove the sub-inspector from duty.

Ballot boxes have been collected and sealed by officials in Muzaffarnagar. The final voter count for the constituency stands at 63.8%

Updates for third phase polling on 29 November begin here

The SDM has reached the spot and a case has been filed in the Kopaganj police station area.

It was alleged that the former president Raj Kumar Jaiswal was responsible for the distribution of the alcohol.

The Adari Nagar Panchayat's office found huge amounts in domestic liquor which was being used to sway voters.

Uttar Pradesh's Panchayati Raj Minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary arrives in Moradabad to vote in the municipal election

Booth number 44 in Firozabad inactive because of the non-functioning EVM. The authorities are trying to replace the EVM.

Voting for 76 Nagar Palika Parishads and 152 urban panchayats is also underway.

The polling will cover 233 urban bodies spread across 26 districts, including five municipal corporations of Bareilly, Saharanpur, Jhansi, Firozabad and Moradabad, an official said, according to IANS.

Thereafter, the BJP has been making impressive electoral gains and won 73 out of the 80 parliamentary seats in the watershed 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It then romped home with a decisive majority of 325 seats of the 403 assembly seats in the 2017 state assembly polls.

In 2012, Uttar Pradesh was under a Samajwadi Party (SP) rule and the feat was a major one for the BJP as it had not been in power for more than a decade then.

Of the urban body polls held in 2012, BJP had a mayor in 12 of the 14 municipal corporations. Only Allahabad and Rampur had mayors from the opposition camp.

The BJP has enjoyed a majority in most of these urban bodies and this time, the elections are being seen as the first litmus test of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government after its massive victory in state assembly polls held earlier in 2017.

The threat of Maoists and the porous Indo-Nepal border are the two biggest challenges during the third phase of municipal polls in Maharajganj and the International Border has been sealed to tackle this, the official said.

"Only emergency vehicles will be allowed across the border during this period," he said.

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is enforcing the sealing of the border, District Magistrate and Electoral Officer Virendra Kumar Singh told reporters.

The 84 km-long Indo-Nepal border has been sealed ahead of the third phase of civic polls on Wednesday.

Women in Kannauj turned out in heavy numbers. Initial reports say women outnumbered the men in Kannauj.

"These three parties (SP, BSP and Congress) do not have any agenda. They have lost the mandate of the people and are hell bent in stopping and pushing Prime Minister Narenda Modi. But, their plans will never succeed," Maurya told an election rally.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday had alleged that the "trio of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress" lacked a concrete agenda and were hell bent only on stopping Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A Congress candidate was arrested in Saharanpur on charges of buying votes, reports Financial Express .

In Bareilly, the Faridpur Police arrested a candidate outside the voting site with Rs 30,000. The arrested person is Saif Raza, an independent in Ward no 22

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has not campaigned extensively, but held select rallies and a few press conferences, reports NDTV . BSP supremo Mayawati did not campaign at all despite the BSP contesting the polls after more than two decades. This is a change from its earlier strategy of avoiding local elections.

In Jaunpur, two fake voters were arrested by the presiding officer and handed over to the police at booth no. 8 of Shahganj tehsil ward.

Two groups pelt stones at each other in Etah as information spreads about the distribution of money to voters. Jalesar MLA Sanjiv Divakar was injured in the stone pelting. A case was registered in Jalsar police station town.

In Baghpat, campaign material was thrown outside polling booths. Six bike riders threw posters of RLD candidate Ashwani Tomar at several booths of Badout municipality.

In Balrampur, many voters returned disappointed as their names were not in the voter list. Lakhimpur saw crowd disturbances as names of dead people appeared in the voting list but names of entire families were missing.

There was a great deal of agitation among voters of Jaunpur, after over 500 voters realised their names had gone missing from voter lists, media agencies have reported. Several names were found to be missing from voter lists in the first two phases as well.

Over 500 names go missing from voter lists in Jaunpur

In Jaunpur, Paras Nath Yadav, a former Cabinet minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government, had his and his entire family's name missing from the voter lists. The angry minister spoke to the media outside the polling booth and alleged there was a conspiracy at play.

Hundreds of angry voters barged into polling booths at Jaunpur after discovering their names were missing from the polls. Over 500 voters said their names had gone missing from the lists. These voters were expelled from the booths and voting has begun again.

Hundreds of voters barge into polling booths over issue of missing names

In Etah, 14 percent voting was registered by 10 am

All the candidates in Bulandshahr Kakad Nagar Panchayat were arrested on suspicion of disturbing of peace.

In Firozabad ward no 31, the public boycotted the election as they alleged that the BLO (acting with the opposition party) had removed the names of at least 1000 people from the voter list. The people of the ward will meet the DM to request for re-election.

The people caught the Congress candidate Bobby Karnwal and his associates trying to buy votes with cash and handed them to the police.

People catch Congress candidate trying to buy votes, hand him over to police

In Barabanki, security forces chase away the supporters of contestants

Case lodged against former MLA and Samajwadi Party's candidate Radheyamyam Jaiswal for violating code of conduct and spreading rumours. Complaint was filed by independent candidate, Tinchu Gupta.

Case filed against former Samajwadi Party MLA for violating code of conduct

In Chandauli, the first round of voting for the third in the district has been slow. 21 percent voting done till 11.30 am

In Shahjahanpur-Jalalabad town, a case was registered against Sub-Inspector Randhir Singh and 8 unknown policemen who beat up BJP leader Manoj Kashyap. The accused is stationed in the Devarania police station of Bareilly but had come on election duty to Jalalabad.

The officers and staff in the control room are unable to reveal real-time polling percentages. This is in defiance of the orders of the State Election Commission.

Reports of incorrect voter lists are coming in from ward 54 in Bareilly's Bhood area. Out of 1,250 voters, the names of about 600 voters are missing and those on the voter list are either dead or have settled elsewhere. People are angry at the BLO. Similar problems are being reported in Ward 80 as well.

PL Punia reached Barabanki to vote. He said that the government should link EVMs to Aadhaar. He alleged that there was a conspiracy to remove voters' names from the list. He also said that there are errors in voters' lists in many districts.

In the society polling booth in Aliganj, Raza Ahmed fired a gun at Aliganj MLA Satyapal Rathore's two sons, allege family members. Victims admitted to hospital while the voting was stopped for some time.

In Chandauli, the first round of voting for the third in the district has been slow. 21 percent voting done till 11.30 am

In Shahjahanpur-Jalalabad town, a case was registered against Sub-Inspector Randhir Singh and 8 unknown policemen who beat up BJP leader Manoj Kashyap. The accused is stationed in the Devarania police station of Bareilly but had come on election duty to Jalalabad.

The officers and staff in the control room are unable to reveal real-time polling percentages. This is in defiance of the orders of the State Election Commission.

Reports of incorrect voter lists are coming in from ward 54 in Bareilly's Bhood area. Out of 1,250 voters, the names of about 600 voters are missing and those on the voter list are either dead or have settled elsewhere. People are angry at the BLO. Similar problems are being reported in Ward 80 as well.

During the election in Etah, SP and BJP groups clashed as information of buying of votes spread. BJP legislator Sanjiv Divakar was injured in the exchange.

PL Punia reached Barabanki to vote. He said that the government should link EVMs to Aadhaar. He alleged that there was a conspiracy to remove voters' names from the list. He also said that there are errors in voters' lists in many districts.

In the society polling booth in Aliganj, Raza Ahmed fired a gun at Aliganj MLA Satyapal Rathore's two sons, allege family members. Victims admitted to hospital while the voting was stopped for some time.

Polling for the second phase covering 25 districts began on Sunday. Voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security.

The campaigning for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh civic elections ended in 25 districts, including Varanasi, on Friday.

State election commissioner SK Agarwal had reviewed poll preparations through video conferencing with district magistrates, district election officers, senior police officers and polling observers.

Over 52 percent voting was recorded in the first phase on 22 November which covered 24 districts.

After the BJP formed the government in the state with absolute majority in March, this will be the first battle of ballot that will test the popularity of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Unlike other parties, the BJP is taking the civic polls seriously and besides the chief minister himself and his two deputies, senior party leaders are extensively campaigning in the state.

While the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have left the campaigning to second-rank leaders, the Congress has engaged senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar and MP Pramod Tewari to address election meetings in selected cities of the state.

Besides Varanasi, the districts going to polls in the second phase are Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budhnagar, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Mainpuri , Farrukhabad, Etawah, Lalitpur, Banda, Allahabad, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia and Bhadohi.

Counting of votes for all the three phases will be on 1 December and results will be declared the same day.

With inputs from PTI