Voting for Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar on March 11, counting on March 14

The voting for Lok Sabha by-elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will be held on March 11 and the counting will be held on March 14. The elections will be held in Phulpur and Gorakhpur seats in Uttar Pradesh and Araria, Bhabua and Jehanabad seats in Bihar.

The parliamentary constituencies of Gorakhpur and Phulpur fell vacant following the election of the sitting MPs Yogi Adityanath (UP chief minister) and Keshav Prasad Maurya (UP's deputy chief minister) respectively as members of UP's Legislative Council.

BJP is confident that it will not only "retain" but also improve its "victory margin" in both the seats in UP. Gorakhpur has been a party bastion since 1991 while the party made its debut in the Phulpur parliamentary seat--once considered as the pocket borough of the Congress--only in 2014 when Maurya won the seat.

Announcing the polls, the EC said that the last date of nominations for the five bypolls is February 20, 2018 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is February 23. EVMs and VVPATs will be used at all polling stations in the bye-elections.