Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister and BJP candidate from Allahabad West constituency Sidharth Nath Singh who cast his vote on Sunday at Jwala Devi Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College for the fifth phase of state Assembly elections, said that the BJP will cross the 300-mark in the state and retain power.

Singh after casting his vote while speaking to reporters here today said, “We’ll cross 300-mark and form govt again. People have to make a decision and they’ll vote for development works.”

Earlier in the day, Singh and his family offered prayers at Baba Mandir in Prayagraj as voting in the fifth phase of the state Assembly election began.

Polling for the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections began in 61 constituencies at 7 am on Sunday morning.

A total of 61 Assembly constituencies spread across 12 districts, including Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Barabaki, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Gonda, Amethi, and Raebareli, are going to polls on Sunday.

Voters will decide the fate of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Minister Sidharth Nath Singh, Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra and others today.

As many as 692 candidates are in the fray in the fifth phase whose political fate will be decided by around 2.24 crore electorates. The polling will conclude at 6 pm today.

The state is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as prime contenders.

In 2017, BJP had won 38 seats out of 55 seats in this region while the SP had retained 15 and the Congress had won two seats.

Polling for four phases of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections has already concluded and the fifth phase is underway today.

The remaining two phases will take place on March 3 and March 6. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)