New Delhi: Today i.e. on Monday, voting has started in 11 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh. 109 candidates are in the fray for the by-election. 41 lakh 8 thousand 328 voters will exercise their franchise at 4529 polling booths in 2307 polling stations. A four-cornered contest is likely in Uttar Pradesh as BJP, BSP, SP and Congress have fielded candidates in all 11 seats. Earlier, out of these seats, eight seats were held by BJP and one seat was owned by BJP's ally Apna Dal (Sone Lal).

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Votes will be cast today for the by-elections in Dharamsala and Pachhad assembly constituencies. Polling will be held at 202 polling stations in two Vis constituencies from 8 am to 5 pm. A total of 1 lakh 56 thousand 624 voters will use their franchise by pressing the button of EVM. Adequate security arrangements have been made at 31 sensitive and susceptible booths. Voting has started today for the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, as well as 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats in 18 states of the country. Polling will be held at 5 pm.

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The BJP and its allies hold about 30 of these seats, while the Congress won 12 seats and went to the remaining regional parties. These include 11 seats in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, six in Gujarat, five in Bihar, four in Assam, two each in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, four seats in Punjab, five in Kerala, three in Sikkim, two in Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Telangana have one assembly seat each.

The by-elections for Satara in Maharashtra and Samastipur Lok Sabha seat in Bihar will also be held today. In Satara, former NCP leader and sitting MP Udayanraje Bhosle is in the fray against Srinivas Patil of Congress-NCP alliance on a BJP ticket. The Samastipur (Bihar) Lok Sabha seat is vacant after the death of Ramchandra Paswan, the younger brother of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. LJP has given the ticket to Ramchandra's son Prince Raj from here on behalf of NDA.

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