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Over 40 per cent of 1.84 crore voters exercised their franchise till midday today in the fourth phase of polling in eastern  Uttar Pradesh . "Polling is underway at a brisk pace in 53 assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts, including the backward Bundelkhand region," the CEO office said here. The pace of voting was slow in the first few hours but picked up as the day advanced. The exercise was by and large peaceful in view of tight security arrangements. Inter district and inter state borders have been sealed and patrolling by security forces has been intensified in poll-bound areas. Most of the sensitive polling centres are being manned by the personnel of Central Paramilitary Forces. 680 candidates are in the fray in this phase which covers Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur districts. The BSP has fielded its nominees in all seats, while BJP's nominees are in 48 constit...

UP Elections 2017  :  Manoj Kucchal, a hardware vendor in Bijnor’s commercial hub, Sadar Bazar, looked harassed as he summoned his chartered accountant for the morning session he has been holding since the taxman knocked on his doors. The taxman started sending him alerts after vetting Kucchal’s bank accounts to check how much cash was put in it after November 8, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised high-value currency notes. “The I-T (income tax) department has served 10 messages on my mobile in the past 10 days. If I do not answer these within 10 days, I will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 per notice. The thing that amuses me is the number of times I have used the figure 10,” said Kucchal, who heads the Bijnor district traders’ association. At Saharanpur, 110 km away, Vivek Minocha, who helms the city’s traders’ forum, is feeling harassed. “The I-T guys are demanding proof for every rupee we put in (to a bank account). The PM himself said onc...