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West UP turns fortress; 22.8 million to decide fate of 623 candidates
Covering the Jat-dominant belt of western UP, the first phase will take place in Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, and Agra districts.
A day before the first phase of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the state’s 58 constituencies spread across 11 districts were turned into a fortress, with the deployment of over 800 companies of paramilitary forces and the police, 123,000 civil police personnel and home guards.
Covering the Jat-dominant belt of western UP, the first phase will take place in Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, and Agra districts. “We are prepared to ensure free and fair polling in the first phase and the deployment of the police force has been done strategically to maintain peace and avert any law-and-order trouble,” additional director general (law and order), Prashant Kumar, said.
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The polling is scheduled to be conducted at 10,833 polling centres and 25,880 polling booths of the 11 districts. The police have identified 12, of the 58 constituencies going to the polls, as “sensitive” and special deployment has been made in the constituencies’ 998 “vulnerable” localities and 5,535 “critical” polling booths. The “sensitive” areas are Khairagarh, Fatehabad, Agra West, Baah, Chaata, Mathura, Sardhana, Meerut City, Chaprauli, Badaun, Baghpat and Kairanam, Kumar added.
He said a total of 800 companies of paramilitary forces were provided for the elections, of which 796 were deployed while four were kept in reserve.
In addition to the paramilitary forces, 27 companies of provincial armed police, 9,464 inspectors and sub-inspectors, 59,030 head constables and constables, 48,136 home guards, 505 Prantiya Rakshak Dal personnel and 6,061 village guards have also been put into action.
The police have sealed the borders of the state and strict vigilance is underway to maintain peace in 58 assembly constituencies, which will go to the polls on Thursday. “The highest deployment will be seen in Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh and Meerut. In Mathura alone, 75 companies of paramilitary have been deployed and the total force deployed is 21,000 in this constituency,” a security official told news agency ANI.
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The official also said that thorough vigilance is being conducted at the state borders of both Haryana and Rajasthan. “There will be movement of force throughout and voting will be held amid tight security. Duty cards were allotted. The liquor shops have been closed for 48 hours and will open only once the voting is over,” the official added.
Elections in India’s most populous state will see the 22,783,793-strong electorate cast its vote to decide the fate of 623 candidates, including state ministers Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain. Of the 623 candidates in the fray, 73 are women.
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“A total 2.28 crore voters will exercise their franchise in the first phase in 11 districts on Thursday,” chief electoral officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said, addressing a press conference in Lucknow on the eve of polling. The voters include 1.24 crore men, 1.04 crore women, while 1,448 voters are in the third gender category, he added.
Shukla said that all the preparations have been made to ensure free and fair polling. “The commission has deployed 48 general observers, eight police observers, 19 poll expenditure observers apart from 2175 sector magistrates, 284 zonal magistrates, 368 static magistrates and 2718 micro observers all to keep a keen watch on the polls,” he said.
