NEW DELHI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Polling is underway in 54 assembly constituencies across nine districts in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh in the seventh and last phase of voting on Monday.

Votes have already been polled in 349 constituencies out of a total of 403 assembly constituencies in the state in the previous six phases.

Uttar Pradesh is India's largest state in terms of population, and several Indian prime ministers in the past seven decades hailed from Uttar Pradesh. Current incumbent Narendra Modi, though belongs to the western state of Gujarat, has been elected twice from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi parliamentary constituency.

Presently the country's main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) runs a government in Uttar Pradesh headed by saint Yogi Adityanath who wears saffron robes. He is challenged by the regional socialist party the Samajwadi Party (SP) led by the state's former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Political analysts said the SP has thrown down a tough challenge to the current BJP government in the state. Exit Polls carried out by several agencies and TV channels will be out this evening once the polling is over, thus providing a hint as to which party will form the next government.

Besides Uttar Pradesh, four other states - Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur - went to polls in the electoral process over the past month.

Results in all five states will be declared on March 10. Enditem

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