Lucknow/Chandigarh: Fifty nine constituencies spread across 16 districts in Uttar Pradesh (UP) are voting in the third phase of polling today. Congress-ruled Punjab is also voting.

UP recorded a voter turnout of 21.18 percent and Punjab 17.77 percent as at 12.30 pm.

Soon after polling began in UP, the Samajwadi Party (SP)  alleged discrepancies in an Electronic Voting Machine in Kanpur Rural Assembly seat. The party alleged that even after pressing the button next to SP, the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) issued a slip of the BJP. They asked the Election Commission to take note of this.

The seats voting today are located in the west, central and southern parts of Uttar Pradesh. All eyes are on the Karhal seat in Mainpuri district from where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting his first State election against  BJP’s S.P. Singh Baghel.

Punjab which saw high voltage political drama recently, went to polls in a single phase today to elect 117 members to the State Assembly. Prominent faces are Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from the Chamkaur Sahib seat, Navjot Singh Sidhu against SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia from the Amritsar East seat, AAP’s CM candidate Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri, Captain Amarinder Singh from Patiala, Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalabad Assembly Constituency, Parkash Singh Badal from the Lambi seat, Ganieve Kaur Majithia from the Majitha seat and Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Bathinda seat.