UP: Arrangements in place for bypolls to 11 Assembly, 1 LS seat

Lucknow, Sep 12: Elaborate security arrangements have been made for bypolls on Saturday for 11 Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 118 candidates are in the fray for 11 Assembly seats while 12, including Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, grandson of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's elder brother, are contesting for Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat.

"Adequate number of security personnel, including those of the central forces, have been deployed in constituencies to ensure free and fair elections. A micro observer has also been deployed at all polling centres, who would be an official or employee of the central government," the state election office said.

Polling will be held tomorrow between 7 AM and 6 PM, and counting of votes will take place on September 16. The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for video recording and photography at all the polling booths.

Over 4,000 polling booths have been established in 11 Assembly constituencies while a total of 1,929 for Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency. Of the total booths, 176 have been categorised as "sensitive" and arrangement of web cast has been made at these booths, it said.

The 11 Vidhan Sabha seats where bypolls are going to be held include Saharanpur city, Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Noida, Nighasan, Lucknow East, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha and Rohania. While BSP, which drew a blank in Lok Sabha polls, is not contesting the byelections, Congress and SP have fielded candidates in all the 11 assembly seats and BJP is contesting in 10 and its ally Apna Dal in one.

These seats fell vacant after 10 BJP MLAs and an Apna Dal legislator were elected to the Lok Sabha. Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat was vacated by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who favoured to retain Azamgarh seat. SP is going all out to retain Mainpuri where the bypoll would mark the launch of Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, the gennext of the extended of Mulayam Singh Yadav family.

The challenge for SP is not just to win the seat again but also to maintain the big margin with which Mulayam had romped home. In Mainpuri, BSP and Congress have not fielded their candidates, leaving a straight contest between Tej Pratap Singh and BJP's Shiv Singh Shakya.

PTI