E-Paper
UP Panchayat polls: Voting for first phase today
People in 18 districts, including Kanpur Nagar and Prayagraj, will cast their vote for the three-tier panchayat elections in the first phase on Thursday amid the demand from some quarters for deferment of the rural polls in view of the raging pandemic in the state
People in 18 districts, including Kanpur Nagar and Prayagraj, will cast their vote for the three-tier panchayat elections in the first phase on Thursday amid the demand from some quarters for deferment of the rural polls in view of the raging pandemic in the state.
The 18 districts going to poll in the first phase are Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Hathras, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi, Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi.
Counting of votes in all the 75 districts will be held simultaneously on May 2 after the voting to the last phase is completed on April 29.
As many as 69,541 village panchayat members, 85 village pradhans, 550 kshetra panchayat members and one zila panchayat member have already been elected unopposed in the 18 districts in the first phase.
According to a state election commission (SEC) spokesman around 3 lakh candidates are finally in the fray for the four posts in the first phase. As many as 1,08,562 candidates are running for the post of village pradhan in 14,789 village panchayats.
Meanwhile, some politicians, traders and others have demanded the government to defer the panchayat polls for some time considering the way the Covid-19 has gone out of control in many districts. including Lucknow.
After Bharatiya Janata Party (MP) from Mohanlalganj, Kaushal Kishore demanded the SEC to defer panchayat polls by a month in view of the pandemic, UP Adarsh Vyapar Mandal chief Sanjay Gupta on Wednesday demanded the government to defer polls and also clamp complete lockdown for a week in Lucknow.
“I spoke to defence minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi and deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma here today and impressed upon them the need for postponement of the panchayat polls in the state and a complete lockdown for a week or so in Lucknow to break the chain of the virus,” Gupta said.
Samajwadi Party, however said, it did not favour the idea of deferment of polls at this stage. “Deferment of polls now when the voting for first poll is already scheduled to be held on Thursday may not be a practical thing,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said. “But the election commission must ensure that voting take place amid full Covid protocol,” he added.
Government has made it clear that panchayat polls will be held as per the schedule. “The government has no plan to propose deferment of polls anywhere in the state, including Lucknow despite demands from certain quarters,” additional chief secretary, panchayati raj, Manoj Kumar Singh said.
