Tomorrow will be ‘The’ day for all parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party as voting for 73 constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh will take place and more than 2.6 crore voters will decide the fate of these parties in the first out of seven phases of UP Assembly elections. While the upcoming polls is being seen as the litmus test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and his three-years regime, Akhilesh Yadav along with Congress is making all attempts to keep himself in the driving seat of the state.

Mayawati-led BSP has fielded Muslim candidates on 18 out of 73 seats and is confident of sweeping the polls with full majority. As many as 839 candidates, including main contenders from BJP, BSP, Congress-Samajwadi party and RLD, are in fray for the seats in 15 districts of the region where 26,823 polling stations have been set up.

Here are all you need to know about the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2017:

Electorates
Out of the total electorate, as many as 1.17 crore voters are women and 1,508 belong to the third gender category.

Largest constituency
Sahibabad is the largest constituency in terms of total voters and Jalesar is the smallest.

Most contested seat
Highest number of candidates locking horns from one particular seat is Agra South (26), while the least number of candidates are contesting in Hastinapur.

Prominent candidates
Some prominent names in the run up to phase one elections are Pankaj Singh from Noida seat. Pankaj is the son of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and will be contesting Assembly elections for the first time. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pradeep Mathur will be contesting from Mathura against BJP spokesman Shrikant Sharma. Others names include Mriganka Singh from Kairana who is the daugther of BJP MP Hukum Singh and BJP MLA Sangeet Som.

Former BJP state president Lakshmikant Bajpai (Meerut), RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s son-in-law Rahul Singh (SP) from Sikandarabad, and Sandeep Singh, grandson of Rajasthan Govenor Kalyan Singh from Atrauli will also be trying their luck tomorrow.

During the 2012 Assembly elections, both SP and BSP bagged 24 seats each, RLD got nine and Congress 5, BJP 11.

Criminal Candidates in fray
According to data compiled by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), 168 out of 836 candidates in fray in the first phase of UP elections have declared criminal cases against them in their affidavits. Out of them, 29 of 73 candidates are from BJP, 28 of 73 from BSP , 19 of 57 candidates from RLD, 15 of 51 candidates from SP, 6 of 24 candidates from Congress and 38 out of 293 independent candidates. The declared crimes include cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women.

Crorepati candidates
The declared wealth by the candidates contesting in the first phase of UP elections can shock many. As many as 119 out of the total candidates have assets worth Rs 5 crore and above. As many as 244 of these candidates have assets less than 10 lakhs, while 432 out of 836 candidates have not even declared income tax details.

The average asset per candidate of 24 Congress candidates is Rs 13.18 crore; of 73 BJP candidates, it is Rs 7.40 crore. Similarly, average asset of 73 BSP candidates is Rs 6.77 crore; of 57 RLD candidates, it is Rs 5.15 crores and of 51 SP candidates, it is Rs 5.98 crore. Moreover, 293 independent candidates have average assets of Rs 80.57 lakh.

Educational Background of Candidates
As many many as 402 out of 836 candidates have declared their educational qualification which is between Class 5 and 12. Out of them, 336 candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduation or above. The ADR data also shows that 64 candidates have declared themselves to be just literates and 15 candidates are illiterates. Meanwhile, 12 candidates have not even informed the Election Commission about their educational qualifications.

‘Red Alert’ Constituencies
Red Alert constituencies includes those seats that have three or more candidates with criminal cases on them. Etah comes top in the list with 6 out of 14 candidates with criminal charges on them. These candidates have been fielded by parties including BSP, SP, IND, IND, IND and Mahan Dal respectively. Agra South also tops the list with six candidates facing criminal charges. These candidates have been fielded by parties including BJP, BSP, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, IND, IND, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party respectively.