Stage set for second phase of Uttar Pradesh civic polls in 25 districts

More than 80,000 security personnel, including 40 companies of central paramilitary forces and 65 companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed for smooth conduct of polling that would commence at 0730 hrs and conclude at 1700 hrs.

This time, the authorities would also be using more than 80 drone cameras, 30 in Lucknow alone, to monitor the situation at the polling booths.

All liquor shops have been shutdown till the end of  voting while the borders of the districts going to polls on Sunday have been sealed. 

In this phase, at stake would be prestigious mayoral posts in Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituencies, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's constituency Lucknow, and Union minister V K Singh's Ghaziabad constituency, and the Sangam city of Allahabad.

Mr Singh will be visiting Lucknow on Sunday to cast his vote.

State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said on Saturday that polling parties have started reaching the polling booths. He said around 10 per cent of the booths will go for webcasting, while others will have CCTV and video recording of the polling process.

In the first phase of polling held on Wednesday, 52.59 per cent of the voters exercised their right to franchise in 24 districts, including five mayoral seats. However opposition alleged malfunctioning of some EVMs in some places and demanded use of ballot papers in the next two phases.

The third and last phase of elections would be held on November 29. Counting of votes for all the three phases would be done on December 1 and results are expected to be declared the same day.

The districts going to polls in the second phase on November 26 are Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Lalitpur, Banda, Allahabad, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia, Varanasi and Bhadoi.

The campaigning was very hectic, particularly for the ruling BJP which left no stone unturned with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading the campaign by addressing election rallies. Other senior BJP leaders, too, are actively campaigning, including state president Mahendra Nath Pandey.

While Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have left campaigning to its second-rank leaders, Congress has engaged senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar to address election meetings in selected pockets of the state.

The second phase of polling would cover six municipal corporations, 51 municipalities and 132 nagar panchayats. A total of 189 local bodies will go to polls in the second phase, covering 3,601 wards. Nearly 1.29 crore electorate are expected to exercise their franchise at 13,777 booths.

According to State Election Commission (SEC), there are 83 candidates in the fray, including 42 women, for six mayoral posts. There are 638 candidates contesting for chairperson's post in 51 municipalities and 1,387 candidates for the post of chairperson of nagar panchayats.