Lucknow: Voting for the by-polls to 11 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency began on Saturday amid tight security, an official said.

A total of 177 candidates, including 12 women, are in the fray. Among the prominent ones are Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Ferozabad Lok Sabha seat, Dimple Yadav, daughter-in-law of party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress nominee from the Padrauna assembly seat, Mohini Devi, mother of union minister of state R.P.N. Singh.

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A total 4.9 million voters are expected to exercise their franchise at 5,616 polling stations.

The polling started at 8 a.m. for 11 assembly seats - Lucknow West, Puwayan (Shahjahanpur), Isauli (Sultanpur), Hainsar Bazar (Sant Kabirnagar), Padrauna (Kushinagar), Kolasala (Varanasi), Rari (Jaunpur), Etawah, Bhartana (Etawah), Lalitpur, Jhansi and the lone Lok Sabha Ferozabad seat.

Lucknow West assembly seat has maximum number of 20 candidates followed by Rari in Jaunpur district and Kolasla in Varanasi district which have 18 and 17 candidates respectively.

Additional Director General (Law and Order) Brij Lal told reporters that 60 deputy superintendent of police, 180 inspectors, 2,173 sub-inspectors, 3,128 head constables, 16,800 constables and 21,770 home guards have been deputed on poll duty.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said central paramilitary forces have been deployed at the polling booths along with the civil police and provincial armed constabulary (PAC) troopers to ensure free and fair polling.

'Elaborate arrangements are in place to maintain a strict vigil over the by-elections for which 2,300 digital cameras and 700 video cameras have been engaged,' he added.

The by-elections is seen as a countdown for the coming 2,012 assembly elections in the state with all the political parties trying to gain political grounds.

Of the 11 assembly seats, 10 were vacated after resignation of the sitting members, while a member of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) died in Lalitpur.

The Padrauna seat was vacated by union minister of state R.P.N Singh after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kushingar.

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