Voting begins for 14 Lok Sabha seats in UP

Lucknow, May 6: Voting began on Monday for 14 parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, including the high-profile Amethi, Rae Bareli and Lucknow seats, at 7 a.m., said an official.

The 14 seats are Lucknow, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kesarganj, Gonda and Dhaurahra.

Chief Electoral Officer L. Venkateshwar Loo said that all security arrangements have been made for peaceful polling.

A total of 1,361 digital and 1,521 video cameras have been set up in the polling booths.

This phase will see voting in many high-profile seats. Both Rae Bareli and Amethi, which are traditional Congress strongholds, will witness a heated contest between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In Rae Bareli, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who has held the seat from 2004, will face former Congress leader Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP.

In Amethi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi will again face Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Among other prominent candidates in the fray is Union Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow).