Voting underway for Phulpur, Gorakhpur bypolls in UP  

Voting for the crucial Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh was underway on Sunday, according to election officials.

Voter turn-out in the polls that began at 7 am, was less in the first two hours in both the constituencies, the officials said. The voting will end at 5 pm.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cast his vote and flashed a victory sign after emerging out of a polling centre in Gorakhpur.

Adityanath, who vacated the Gorakhpur seat after his elevation as the Chief Minister, had held it since 1998. The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Upendra Dutt Shukla is in the fray for the seat this time.

Gorakhpur has 970 polling centres and 2,141 polling stations. There are 19.49 lakh eligible voters including over 8 lakh women.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Praveen Nishad in Gorakhpur. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have extended their support to the SP candidate.

The Congress is fighting on its own and has named Surahita Kareem as its candidate.

In the Phulpur seat of Allahabad, which was represented by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, has 793 polling centres and 2,059 polling stations.

Heavy security has been deployed in the constituency. A total of 19.63 lakh voters will decide the fate of 22 candidates.

The BJP has fielded Kaushlendra Singh Patel who is pitted against Nagendra Singh Patel of the SP.

The BSP here too is supporting the SP candidate. The Congress has fielded Manish Mishra as its candidate.