Uttar Pradesh election 2017: Over 61.16% voter turnout in 3rd phase till 5 pm

New Delhi: Over 61.16 per cent votes were cast till 5 PM on Sunday in the 69 Assembly constituencies, considered ruling Samajwadi Party stronghold, which figure in phase-III of Uttar Pradesh elections. In the 2012 Assembly polls, SP had won 55 of these 69 seats, while BSP, BJP and Congress secured just six, five and two respectively. One seat went to an Independent. Here are live updates about Uttar Pradesh election 2017:

• 61.16% turnout in phase III of UP Assembly polls; voting by and large peaceful: UP CEO T Venkatesh
• Till 4 pm, the turnout was over 55 per cent. Polling was going on mostly peacefully in all the constituencies.
• Most of the leaders claimed their parties will form the next government.
• "Till 2 pm, the turnout was over 44 per cent," a spokesman of UP Chief Electoral Officer said. Polling was going on peacefully in these areas, he said.
•  38.96% voter turnout in 3rd phase till 1 pm
• ‘Let Modiji say whatever he wants, UP has adopted Samajwadi Party,' says Mulayam Singh Yadav
• Dimple Yadav casts her vote in Saifai, says, let's be progressive and think about the future
• Akhilesh Yadav, Prateek Yadav are apple of my eye, says Sadhna Yadav wife of Mulayam Singh Yadav
• Developmental work has been done in UP and Akhilesh will once again be the CM: Mulayam Singh Yadav

ALSO READ: UP poll 2017: 'Akhilesh Yadav has lost the game', says PM Narendra Modi Image: Mulayam Singh Yadav/ABP Live

• Uttar Pradesh records 24 per cent voter turnout till 11 am in Phase-3
• BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj casts his vote in Unnao
• Mulayam Singh Yadav casts his vote along with family in Saifai: Uttar Pradesh election 2017
• Union Minister and senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra casts his vote at Ganna Sansthan booth in Lucknow.
• 26.6% voting in Kannauj, 29% in Sitapur and 20.68% in Kanpur till 11 AM.
• Polling underway in 69 Assembly seats spread across 12 districts in phase-III of UP polls.
• Union Minister and BJP leader Uma Bharti casts her vote at booth no 149 in Lucknow.
• Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal casts his vote
• There is a BJP wave in Uttar Pradesh, BSP and SP are fighting for 2nd and third place: Pankaj Singh,BJP after casting vote in Lucknow
• We were ahead in first 2 phases and I am confident that we will be ahead in 3rd phase also, says CM of UP
• I want cycle (party symbol of SP) to go ahead, says Akhilesh Yadav
• Akhilesh Yadav reaches Saifai to cast his vote
• Not only clear majority, BJP is winning by absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh: HM Rajnath Singh after casting vote in Lucknow

• Stones pelted at Shivpal Yadav's car in Etawah's Jaswantnagar
• HM Rajnath Singh casts his vote: Uttar Pradesh election 2017
• Stone pelting at a booth in Jaswantnagar, in Etawah district of UP.
• 12% voting in third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh till 9 am
• BSP will form government, will win around 300 seats, says Mayawati

Image: BSP supremo Mayawati/ABP Live

• Mayawati casts her vote in Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh election 2017
• Will not form an alliance with BSP, says Lalji Tandon of BJP

Image: Lalji Tandon/ABP Live

• Mulayam Singh Yadav's family leaves for Saifai from Lucknow to cast their votes
• Mulayamji's emotional appeal points to the fact that Aparna Yadav is losing: BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi
• BJP's Rita Bahuguna Joshi is contesting against Samajwadi Party's Aparna Yadav from Lucknow Cantt constituency

Image: Rita Bahuguna Joshi/ABP Live

• Rita Bahuguna Joshi casts her vote in Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh election 2017
• BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi cast his vote in Sherwood Academy, Lucknow

Image: Sudhanshu Trivedi/ABP Live

• There is no infighting at all as far as voting is concerned, we are winning 300+ seats: Ramgopal Yadav after casting vote in Saifai
• Akhilesh Yadav is PM material: Ram Gopal Yadav to ABP News
• Everything ok in family, we are forming government again: Abhay Ram Yadav, elder brother of Mulayam, after casting vote in Saifai
• Third phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh election begins
• 55 candidates of Samajwadi Party contesting in 3rd phase of UP poll

Image: ANI Voter share: A total of 2.41 crore voters will decide the fate of 826 candidates. There are 1.31 crore men, 1.10 crore women and 1,026 voters from the third gender who will exercise their franchise on February 19, a poll official said. There are 16,671 polling centres and 25,603 polling stations in this phase. Districts that would go to poll: The 12 districts where polling is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. are Farrukhabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Hardoi, Kannauj, Kanpur rural, Kanpur city, Unnao, Lucknow, Barabanki, Auraiyya and Sitapur. Phase 3 strong heads: Prominent personalities whose fate would be decided in this phase include Ministers Arvind Singh 'Gop', Fareed Mehfooz Kidwai, Vijay Bahadur Pal, Abhishek Mishra, Nitin Agarwal, Narendra Verma, Rajeev Kumar Singh and former Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav. Division of candidates: The maximum number of candidates in fray are from Etawah (21) - the home town of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, while the least number is in Haidergarh (3) assembly constituency of Barabanki, neighbouring the state capital Lucknow. Lucknow Central and Lucknow West have 17 candidates each, while Farrukhabad and Bhojpur have 20 each. The third phase comes as the biggest litmus test for the ruling Samajwadi Party as it held 55 of these 69 seats in the 2012 assembly polls. Of the remaining seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) held six, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) five and Congress two in the last election. One seat was won by an independent. (With inputs from agencies)