Polling got underway in 58 seats across 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh in the first round of assembly elections on Thursday. The state will hold assembly elections in seven rounds till March 7, with the results revealed on March 10.
Till 5 pm of the first phase of voting for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, 57.79 per cent votes have been cast.
Polling is underway in 58 seats across 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh in the first round of assembly elections on Thursday. The state will hold assembly elections in seven rounds till March 7, with the results revealed on March 10.
Time: The first phase of the state elections is underway on February 10 in 58 seats, as voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
Candidates & parties in the fray: There are a total of 623 candidates for the 58 seats, including nine reserved seats. There are 58 representatives from the BJP, BSP, SP-RLD, Congress, other parties, and independents. Pankaj Singh, Suresh Rana, Mriganka Singh, Sandeep Singh (grandson of late Kalyan Singh), Shrikant Sharma, Ahmad Hameed, and Kapil Dev Aggarwal are the leading candidates. Suresh Rana, Atul Garg, Shrikant Sharma, Sandeep Singh, Anil Sharma, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Dinesh Khatik, Dr G S Dharmesh, and Chaudhary Laxmi Narain are among the nine outgoing ministers whose fates would be determined in the first round of voting.
Major constituencies in the fray: Mathura, Thana Bhavan, Muzaffarnagar, Noida, Kairana, Baghpat, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, and Atrauli are the significant constituencies that will vote.
Valid documents needed for voting: In this round, about 2.27 crore individuals can vote. Only individuals with valid identification will be able to vote. To confirm their identification, voters must present their EPIC to the polling station. If a voter does not have their EPIC card, they must provide one of the 12 alternative photo ID cards, which are – Service identification cards with photos for workers of Central and State governments – PSUs and Public Limited Companies, Passport, driving licence, PAN card, Aadhaar card, MGNREGA employment card, health insurance smart card provided under Ministry of Labour programmes, passbooks with pictures issued by banks or post offices, RGI smart card issued under NPR, pension document with photograph,
COVID protocols: The voting will occur following the COVID-19 safety standards and the instructions given by the Election Commission from time to time. While voters are obliged to wear masks, keep social distance, and use sanitiser while voting, election workers will also be provided with a COVID-19 kit to ensure a peaceful election. Thermal scanning will be performed on all individuals before they are allowed to enter the EVM room. The electoral commission may reserve the final hour of voting for COVID positive voters.
In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 53 of the 58 seats, while the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party each received two seats, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal received one seat.
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