The cacophony of electioneering for the crucial second phase of elections to Urban Local Bodies in Uttar Pradesh will end on Friday evening. Votes will be cast in 25 districts on November 26.
In this phase, at stake would be the prestigious Mayoral posts in Varanasi - Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Parliamentary constituency, Lucknow - Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s constituency and Ghaziabad - Union minister V K Singh’s constituency along with the Sangam City of Allahabad.
Polling would be held from 730 am to 5 pm amid tight security where more than 80,000 security personnel, including 40 companies of Central Para-Military Forces have been asked to ensure law and order.
In the first phase of polling on Wednesday, 52.68 per cent of the voters exercised their right to franchise in 24 districts that included five Mayoral seats.
While the third and last phase of polling would be held on November 29, counting of votes for all three phases would be held on December 1 and results are expected to be declared the same evening.
Districts going to polls in the second phase on November 26 are Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Lalitpur, Banda, Allahabad, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia, Varanasi and Bhadohi.
Campaigning of the ruling BJP has been very hectic with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading the campaign by addressing election rallies. Other senior BJP leaders, too, are actively campaigning including state chief Mahendra Nath Pandey.
While Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have left campaigning to its second-rank leaders, Congress has engaged senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar to address poll meetings in select pockets of the state.
In the second phase of polling, voting would be held in 25 districts covering six municipal corporations, 51 municipalities and 132 nagar panchayats. A total of 189 local bodies will go to polls in the second phase, covering 3601 wards. Nearly 1.29 crore voters will cast their vote at 13,777 booths.
As per State Election Commission (SEC), there are 83 candidates in the fray, including 42 women, for six Mayoral posts. There are 638 candidates contesting for Chairperson’s post in 51 municipalities and 1,387 candidates for Boards’ election