Amid tight security, polling began on Monday morning in 51 assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh spread across 11 districts that figure in the fifth phase, with all eyes on the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough Amethi.

Prominent contestants in this phase include controversial minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati (Samajwadi Party), who will be facing Amita Singh (Congress) and Garima Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party) in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi.

Amita is the wife of Congress leader Sanjay Singh, while Garima is his estranged spouse, making the contest a 'rani versus rani' affair.

The districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur.

Due to death of Samajwadi Party candidate Chandrashekhar Kanaujia in Alapur (Ambedkar Nagar), the Election Commission has announced fresh date of voting in this constituency on March 9.

The ruling Samajwadi Party had won 37 seats out of 52 (total seats in this phase including Alapur) in 2012. While the BJP and the Congress won five seats each, the BSP had won three and the Peace Party two.

In all, 607 candidates are in the fray in this phase with maximum of 24 candidates in Amethi and minimum of six each in Kapilvastu and Etwa seats in Siddharth Nagar district.

Over 1.81 crore voters, including over about 84 lakh women, will decide the fate of ministers Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh from Tarabganj (Gonda), Tej Narain Pandey alias Pawan Pandey from Ayodhya and BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar from Akbarpur, among others, in this phase. -- PTI

IMAGE: A seer at a polling booth in Ayodhya. Photograph: ANI