Polling for 49 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh in the sixth phase, and the first phase of the Manipur Assembly elections are being held on Saturday amidst tight security arrangements.
Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency is majorly in focus.
Assembly segments of Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency of firebrand BJP leader Yogi Adityanath, and Mau, where jailed gangster-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari is in fray, also figure in this penultimate phase of polling that will also cover some districts bordering Nepal.
In the 2012 Assembly polls, of the 49 seats, 27 were won by the SP, 9 by BSP, 7 by BJP, 4 by Congress and 2 by others.
In Manipur, the first phase will cover 38 constituencies for which 1,643 polling stations have been set up in areas spread over Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and the hill districts of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi.
In all, 168 candidates will contest in the first phase.
All eyes are on rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu who broke her 16-year fast last year and founded a party of her own 'Peoples' Resurgence and Justice Alliance' to fight the Assembly election in her quest to get the dreaded AFSPA repealed.
The party is fielding three candidates. The fate of one of the candidates would be decided in the first phase of the elections.