UP elections: Election commission geared up for today’s poll battle

According to the election commission (EC), elaborate arrangements were made for fair, safe, and peaceful voting to take place on Wednesday in nine districts.

The election commission (EC) on Tuesday claimed to have made elaborate arrangements to hold fair, safe and peaceful polls in nine districts where voting will take place on Wednesday.

According to Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla, voting will begin at 7 am and continue until 6 pm. In all, there were 624 candidates; 91 of them were women, he said. (FOR REPRESENTATION PURPOSE)

Chief electoral officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said voting will start at 7 am and continue till 6 pm. He added that 91 of the total 624 candidates in the fray were women.

“With a view to keep strict vigil on the fourth phase polls, the commission has deployed 57 general, nine police and 18 expenditure observers apart from 1,712 sector magistrates, 210 zonal magistrates, 105 static magistrates and 3,110 micro observers,” Shukla said here.

He said the commission had also deployed one senior general observer, two senior police observers and two senior expenditure observers at the state level to keep an eye on the polls.

Shukla said paramilitary forces had been deployed in adequate number to take care of booths, EVMs and strong rooms. “The commission has also made arrangements for live webcast of 50% of the total 24,643 booths under 13,817 polling centres,” he added.

According to Shukla voting on Wednesday will be held in 59 assembly constituencies spread over nine districts — Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda and Fatehpur.