PM Modi urges youth, first-time voters of UP, Punjab to vote in 'large numbers'

As voting for the Punjab Assembly elections and the third round of polling in Uttar Pradesh began on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people in both states to vote, particularly young people and first-time voters. "Today is the third phase of the Punjab elections, as well as the third phase of the UP elections. I urge everyone who is eligible to vote today to do so in huge numbers, especially young people and first-time voters," PM Modi stated this in a tweet.

On Sunday, polling began in 59 seats for the third round of Uttar Pradesh elections at 7 a.m., while polling in 117 constituencies in Punjab began at 8 a.m. The 59 assembly seats across 16 districts will go to the polls in the third round of the Uttar Pradesh elections. There are 627 contestants in the running. In the third round of Assembly elections, almost 2.16 crore people are eligible to vote in 25,794 polling locations and 15,557 polling stations.

Karhal, where former chief minister and Samajwadi Party head Akhilesh Yadav is running in his first Assembly election, is one of the crucial constituencies where voting began today. Satya Pal Singh Baghel, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice, has been placed against Akhilesh Yadav by the BJP.

Meanwhile, in Punjab, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combination, and the coalition of Bharatiya Janata Party and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress party are significant actors. The Congress' chief ministerial candidate, Charanjit Singh Channi, is running from two seats: Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. In Amritsar, Punjab Congress chairman Navjot Singh Sidhu will face SAD's Bikram Singh Majithia, AAP's Jeevanjyot Kaur, and BJP's Jagmohan Singh Raju (East).

On March 10, the votes in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab will be counted.

• PM Modi
• Punjab election 2022
• UP election 2022
• BJP
• Congress