Double V-Day for Goa and Uttarakhand today

An official feeds her child before collecting election materials, ahead of UP phase-2 polls, in Moradabad. Pic/PTI

The 70 assembly seats of Uttarakhand spread over 13 districts, and 40 seats across the two districts of Goa will go to the polls on Monday. While over 81 lakh voters will decide the fate of 632 candidates in the hill state, its coastal counterpart will lock the fate of 301 contestants.

Polling will begin at 8 am and conclude at 6 pm. It will be the fifth assembly elections to be held in Uttarakhand after its creation in 2000.

Important candidates whose fate is to be decided in these polls include Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, his cabinet colleagues Satpal Maharaj, Subodh Uniyal, Arvind Pandey, Dhan Singh Rawat and Rekha Arya besides state BJP president Madan Kaushik.

Traditionally a state with bipolar politics, Goa is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this time, with the AAP, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and other smaller parties vying to make a mark on the state's electoral scene.

The prominent candidates include Chief Minister Pramod Sawant (BJP), Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat (Congress), former CMs Churchill Alemao (TMC), Ravi Naik (BJP), Laxmikant Parsekar (independent), former deputy CMs Vijai Sardesai (GFP) and Sudin Dhavalikar (MGP), late CM Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar and AAP's CM face Amit Paleker.

Over 11 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes on Monday.

Uttar Pradesh will hold the second phase of the assembly polls on Monday. The contest in this round is for 55 seats across nine districts. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.

Capt govt was being run by BJP: Priyanka

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said the former chief minister Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government had to be replaced as it was being run by the BJP from Delhi. Referring to Singh's tenure as chief minister, Vadra, without naming him, said, "That government stopped running from Punjab. That government started being run from Delhi and that too not by the Congress but by the BJP and the BJP-led government."

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