Voting Begins For 58 seats In Uttar Pradesh, 2.28 Crore Voters To Seal Fate Of 623 Candidates In Fray
Lucknow, February 10 (TNA) 2.28 crore voters will decide the fate of 623 candidates who are in fray for 58 assembly seats, spread across 11 districts in western UP as the region as the first phase of the crucial elections takes place on Thursday. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (SP) is locked in a tight battle with the SP-RLD combine here.
In the first phase, polling will be held in Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Hapur, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra districts.
Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla informed that in the first phase, votes will be cast in a total of 26,027 booths of 10,853 polling stations. Maximum 1250 voters have been kept in a booth. In view of Covid-19 infection, adequate arrangements have been made for thermal scanners, hand sanitizers, gloves, face masks, face shields, PPE kits, soap and water at polling places on the day of polling.
Voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. In the first phase, reputation of many veteran leaders including nine ministers of the Yogi government is at stake.
Voter guides have also been distributed for the convenience of voters. In the first phase, of the 2.28 crore voters 1.24 crore are male and 1.04 crore female and 1448 third gender voters. The Election Commission of India has deputed 48 General Observers, 8 Police Observers and 19 Expenditure Observers to keep a special watch on the polling. Apart from this, 2175 sector magistrates, 284 zonal magistrates, 368 static magistrates and 2718 micro-observers.
The Election Commission has also posted one Senior General Observer, one Senior Police Observer and two Senior Expenditure Observers at the state level. Live web casting will be done at at least 50 percent of the polling places during the polling.