Nominations for second phase assembly polls in UP tomorrow

Lucknow, Mar 16 (UNI) Nominations will start tomorrow for the second leg of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 58 seats of 10 districts in western parts of the state with the issue of the election notification by governor T V Rajeswar.

Polling for the second phase will be held on April 13.

The notification for the first phase of elections in 62 assembly seats of 13 districts was issued on March 13.

Nomination papers for the second phase can be filed till March 24. Scrutiny of papers would be done on March 26 and nomination papers can be withdrawn till March 28.

''All preparations for the smooth conduct of elections have already been completed in the districts where polls are slated in the second phase,'' state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anuj Kumar Bishnoi told UNI here.

With the change of State's Director Genral of Police and several senior officers in the districts, EC has given clear indications that they would ensure a free and fair polls.

The EC had also issued several directives, including strict action against violation of model code of conduct and misuse of vehicles by the political parties.

This time, the EC has made mandatory for the voters to show their Election Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) during polling and no state police personnel would be on duty inside the polling station.

For the first time, it has allowed only five people including the candidate inside the Returning Officer (RO) room to file their nominations while only three vehicles would be permitted inside the campus.

Over 650 companies of the Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) would be deployed during the UP polls, along with the PAC and state police.

Meanwhile, most of the political parties have announced their candidates while others have not done so far for the later phases.

While the BSP has announced candidates for all the 403 seats, the BJP has announced nominees for 317 seats, SP for over 80 seats and Congress on 46 seats so far.

Altogether 1.64 crore voters, including 81.8 lakh males and 74.6 lakh females would be eligible to vote in the second phase. There would be 8,479 polling booths in 10 districts with 16,400 EVMs to be used in this phase.

The districts going to polls in the second phase are: Mathura, Hatras, Aligarh, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bagpat, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur.

MORE UNI