PM Narendra Modi to address rally in Gonda today

New Delhi: The campaigning ahead of the fifth phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be in full swing on Friday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to address an election rally in Gonda, ahead of the fifth phase of voting on 27 February.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is going to address seven rallies, while his alliance partner and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is going to address three campaign rallies on Friday.

Modi had on Thursday addressed two election rallies in Bahraich and Basti, a day which coincided with the fourth phase of voting which recorded a 61% turnout.

Here are some of the key facts and latest updates on Uttar Pradesh assembly elections:

? Akhilesh will address three rallies in Faizabad, four in Ambedkar Nagar (earlier called Mau).

? Rahul will address three election rallies—the first in Bahraich district’s Mahsi constituency, the second in Basti, and the third in Balrampur on Friday.

? Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah too is going to address election rallies in Azamgarh, Balia, Mau and Gorakhpur. Many other senior leaders like Rajanth Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Uma Bharti, Venkaiah Naidu, Keshav Prasad Maurya will address various other rallies in eastern Uttar Pradesh in the next two days.

? The 52 assembly seats at stake are spread across Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur districts.

? The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) had won 37 seats out of 52 in 2012 assembly polls, while the BJP and the Congress won five seats each, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won three, while the Peace party won two seats. Districts Shravasti, Balrampur, Sultanpur and Ambedkar Nagar had emerged as strongholds of the SP with the party winning all the seats there.

? A total of 1.84 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise at 12,791 polling stations and 19,167 polling booths in this phase.

? Modi on Thursday had responded to Akhilesh’s “donkeys of Gujarat” remarks. “I can work like a donkey for the nation. Akhilesh was afraid of donkeys of Gujarat as donkeys are loyal to their masters. Can understand if Akhilesh attacks me or BJP, but he has attacked donkeys even though they are thousand of kilometres away. Akhilesh should know when the Congress was in power as part of UPA (United Progressive Alliance), it came out with postal stamps on donkeys of Gujarat.”

? Over 61% polling in phase 4 of Uttar Pradesh assembly election.

? The electoral math in Mayawati’s home turf of Bundelkhand has been roiled by the popularity of Akhilesh Yadav and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

? Will UP politicians with criminal records allure voters? Identity politics is still prominent in Indian elections but it is slowly taking a backseat as development becomes the main agenda.