Western UP goes to polls; marks beginning of month-long jamboree

Electioneering ended Tuesday (February 8) for the first phase of assembly polls in western Uttar Pradesh after a busy day during which the ruling BJP and the main opposition Samajwadi Party released their manifestoes.

Polling will take place for 58 assembly constituencies spread across 11 districts of Western UP, out of the 403 seats in the state, on Thursday (February 10) — marking the beginning of seven-phase polls in the state. Of the 58 seats up for grabs, nine are for reserved categories. The polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Number of voters and districts that will go to polls

The districts where the elections will be held are Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.

A total of 623 candidates are in fray, including 58 each from the BJP, BSP, SP-RLD and Congress. The key constituencies that are going to polls are Mathura, Thana Bhavan, Muzaffarnagar, Noida, Kairana, Baghpat and Atrauli.  Notably, western UP is a Jat-dominant belt.

The first phase of polling will also decide the fate of nine ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government. The ministers whose electoral fate will be decided are Suresh Rana, Atul Garg, Shrikant Sharma, Sandeep Singh, Anil Sharma, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Dinesh Khatik, Dr G S Dharmesh and Chaudhary Laxmi Narain.

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Around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.

BJP, SP, Cong make the most of virtual campaigning; BSP joins in late

The canvassing for the first phase remained confined to the virtual medium due to a ban on road shows and physical rallies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing a virtual rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched in for a double-engine government for fast-paced development while attacking the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine.

The rally aimed at voters in Rampur, Budaun and Sambhal district, which will go to the polls in the second phase.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah tried to put the spotlight back on alleged “exodus” of Hindus from Kairana before 2017. He held door-to-door campaigning in Mathura.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that people have made up their mind to vote out the BJP from power.

The SP-RLD alliance has centred their electioneering on farmers’ issues and attacked UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over poll promises.

BSP chief Mayawati, who started campaigning late, reminded people of her government’s track record on law and order in the past.

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The Congress under the leadership of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has generated interest as seen in road shows and door-to-door campaigning by her.

Though the main contest is believed to be between the BJP and the SP-RLD, the BSP too has its influence on some seats in the first phase.

Last time, the BJP bagged 53 of the 58 seats while the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party got two seats each. One seat went to the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

COVID protocol in place

The voting will be held using COVID-19 safety protocols and the guidelines as issued by the Election Commission from time to time. While voters are required to wear masks, maintain social distance and use sanitiser while voting, the election officials will also be given a COVID-19 kit to conduct the election smoothly. Thermal scanning of all persons will be carried out before allowing them to enter inside the EVM room. The election commission may reserve the last one hour of the polling for COVID positive voters.

(With inputs from agencies)