The State Election Commission has announced that polling has commenced for 370 urban local bodies, including 7 Municipal Corporations, 95 Nagar Palika Parishads, and 268 Nagar Panchayats. This is the second and final phase of civic polls in Uttar Pradesh, covering 38 districts and 9 divisions, with tight security arrangements in place.
According to State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar, polling began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with vote counting scheduled for May 13.
The first phase of civic polls was conducted on May 4, with around 52% of votes polled. For this phase, 12,103 Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors, 57,201 head constables and constables, and 40,525 Home Guards have been deployed to ensure peaceful and fair polling.
Additionally, 76 companies and 2 platoons of PAC, 35 companies of Central Armed Police Force, and 7,935 trainee SIs will also be deployed. Webcasting, videography, and CCTV cameras are in place at all identified hypersensitive and hypersensitive polling stations in coordination with the district election officer.
The second phase covers divisions such as Meerut, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Ayodhya, Basti, Azamgarh, and Mirzapur, and districts like Meerut, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Bareilly, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Aligarh, Hathras, Kasganj, Etah, and Kanpur Nagar.
Polling will also take place in Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki, Amethi, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, and Bhadohi.
In this phase, 6,929 posts, including Mayors of 7 Municipal Corporations, Chairpersons of 95 Nagar Palika Parishads, and 267 Chairpersons of Nagar Panchayats, will be contested. A total of 39,146 candidates are in the fray for these different posts, with 1,92,32,004 voters, including 1,02,16,992 male and 90,15,012 female voters, eligible to cast their votes.
The SEC has issued directives to ensure that no inconvenience is faced by any voter in casting their vote, and voters who are in line within the stipulated time will be given the opportunity to cast their votes.
A total of 83 candidates are contesting for the post of Mayor in 7 Municipal Corporations, with 3,840 candidates in the fray for 581 posts of Corporators. Similarly, 969 candidates are in the fray for the posts of chairpersons of 95 Nagar Palika Parishads, and 13,315 candidates are contesting for 2,520 members.
In 268 Nagar Panchayats, 2,942 candidates are contesting for the post of Chairpersons, while 17,997 candidates are contesting for 3,459 posts of members. There are 6,111 polling stations set up at 1,798 polling centers for Municipal Corporations, 8,198 polling stations at 2,537 polling centers for 95 Nagar Palika Parishad, and 5,309 polling stations at 2,043 polling stations for 268
