The voting for the final phase of urban local body polls in 38 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Meerut, Ghaziabad, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur and Ayodhya, is set to take place on Thursday, with stringent security measures being put in place. This election is of great significance as political parties are attempting to demonstrate their power ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Polling will run from 7 AM to 6 PM.
In accordance with EC guideline regulations, the final phase of campaigning ended on Tuesday, in the presence of Samajwadi Party and BJP leaders. During this time, they traveled to the areas where voting was taking place.
Residents of Shahjahanpur will go to the polls on April 22, 2021 to elect their first mayor. This comes after Meerut and Aligarh had BSP mayors in 2017, while the BJP ruled all other cities. The State Election Commission (SEC) has declared that over 1.92 crore individuals are eligible to cast their votes in the second phase of the election.
39,146 candidates are competing for 6,929 posts, including 7 mayors and 581 corporators. Additionally, 95 chairpersons and 2,520 nagar palika parishads, and 267 chairpersons and 3,459 nagar panchayats members, will be elected.
The mayor seat in Agra has been set aside for a female from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, Jhansi for SC, Shahjahanpur and Firozabad for an OBC female, Saharanpur and Meerut for an OBC category, and Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad for women.
A turnout of approximately 52 percent of voters was seen in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday as the first phase of polling began at 7 AM and concluded at 6 PM.
As per the press statement released by SEC, the highest voting percentage was reported in Maharajganj (66.48), followed by Shamli (65.02), Kushinagar 64.11 and Amroha (63.41)
Peaceful polling was reported at most places, however, violence and stone-pelting occurred in the Amroha district of UP. Three buses deployed on poll duty were damaged and a case has been lodged for investigation.
READ ALSO:
Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik Meet, No Alliance Discussions Held
