Notification for last phase of UP polls on Apr 13

Lucknow, Apr 12: The poll process for the seventh and last phase of Assembly elections will start tomorrow with the notification for 59 seats spread over nine districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh where polling will be held on May 8.

Governor T V Rajeshwar will issue the notification tomorrow morning for phase-VII, and the nominations will continue till April 20, while scrutiny would be done the next day. Candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till April 23.

Prominent candidates whose fate will be decided in the last phase are state minister Harishanker Tiwari, Ambika Choudhury, mafia don Mukhtar Ansari and Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh.

However, court had not allowed Amarmani Tripathi, accused in the Madhumita Shukla murder case, to file his nomination while EC is yet to decide on the inclusion of the name of dreaded don Abu Salem in the voter list. Salem had shown his interest in contesting the polls from Azamgarh seat.

While the ruling SP is banking on the muslim vote bank in the region, the BJP has convinced party MP Yogi Adityanath in their favour.

For the last phase polling to be held on May 8, over 1.78 crore voters can exercise their franchise, including 96.3 lakh male and 81.8 lakh females, in 16804 polling stations spread out in nine districts. Altogether 19400 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs ) will also be used for polling in the phase.

The seventh phase of polling in the state will witness a tough battle of ballots in several contituencies as there are likely to be a larger number of candidates with criminal background.

In 2002 Assembly polls, the ruling Samajwadi Party had won 21 seats, the BJP 10, the BSP 17, the Congress 4, Independents 3 while one each were won by Loktrantrik Congress, Hindu Mahasabha, Samajwadi Janata Party and National Loktantrik Party of the 52 seats at stake in the seventh phase.

In order to ensure free-and-fair elections, the EC would deploy over 660 companies of Central forces in UP, earmarking each and every polling station as ''sensitive.'' The Commission has already appointed one Central observer for each constituency, besides additional observers at the ''sensitive'' constituencies.

A Phase Coordinator has also been appointed by the EC who will monitor the deployment of Central forces and hear the complaints of the political parties.

Counting of votes of all the seven phases would be taken up in the morning of May 11 and the entire election process would be completed by May 13.

The tenure of the 14th assembly expires May 14.

The nine districts going to poll in the sixth phase are: Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushingar, Deoria, Mau, Azamgarh and Ballia.

The constituencies are: Katehari, Bhatpar Rani, Akbarpur, Salempur, alalpur, Barhaj, Jahangirganj (SC), Natthupur, Tanda, Ghosi, Ayodhya, Sagri, Bikapur, Gopalpur, Milkipur, Azamgarh, Sohawal(SC), Nizamabad, Bansgaon (SC), Atraulia, Dhuriapar, Phulpur, Chillupar, Saraimir(SC), Kauriram, Mehnagar (SC), Mundera Bazar (SC), Lalganj, Pipraich, Mubarakpur, Gorakhpur, Mohammadabad, Gohna (SC), Maniram, Mau, Sahjanwa, Rasra (SC), Paniara, Siar, Pharenda, Chilkahar, Laxmipur, Sikandarpur, Siswa, Bansdih, Maharajganj (SC), Daoba, Shyamdeurwa, Ballia, Naurangia(SC), Kopachit, Ramkola, Hata(SC), Padrauna, Seorahi, Fazilnagar, Kasia, Gauri Bazar, Rudrapur and Deoria.

UNI