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Over 83 lakh voters from Uttarakhand’s 5 LS seats to cast their vote on April 19
Polling on all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand will take place on April 19. BJP has held all seats since 2014. Over 83.21 lakh voters in the state.
Dehradun: The polling on all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand will take place on April 19 in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday. The Gazette notification will be issued on March 20, with nominations ending on March 27.
The last date of withdrawal of nominations is March 30. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.
Since 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has held all five seats in the state -- Almora (SC reserved), Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Garhwal and Tehri Garhwal.
Uttarakhand’s chief electoral officer BVRC Purushottam in a press briefing in the evening said Uttarakhand has over 83.21 lakh voters including 43.08 lakh male voters, 40.12 lakh female voters, 1.45 lakh young voters, over 79,900 physically challenged voters, over 6500 voters with age 85 plus and 297 voters under the third gender category. The number of polling stations in the state is 11,729.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, there were 77.65 lakh voters in the state including 40.53 lakh male voters, 37.11 lakh voters and 259 voters under the third gender category.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the state reported 61.50 % voting, while in 2014, the voting percentage stood at 62.05 %. In the 2009 elections, the state reported 53.96 % voting percentage, while in the 2004 elections, the state reported 49.25 % voting percentage
“The number of voters above the age of 85 is 65,177. They can avail home voting facility. Among the total voters, 79965 are ‘divyang’ (physically challenged). Those with over 40 % disability will also be provided home voting facilities. The elderly voters can vote without any queue,” the CEO said.
“In Uttarakhand, the voter turnout generally remains low. We have a target to increase the voter turnout of 70 % in this Lok Sabha election by creating awareness. We have administered a pledge to 34.94 lakh voters to use their vote. The campaign will continue. I expect support from the media to aware voters,” he said.
“The number of polling stations is 11,729. We will address all shortcomings (at polling booths) in the available one month that we have,” he said
On security arrangements, Additional Director General of Police (ADG) AP Anshuman said, “We have made a security scheme for deployment of security personnel during elections as per the guidelines of the Election Commission. We have done the mapping of critical polling stations. 1410 polling stations have been identified as critical polling stations. We will review this once again.”
He said they have already appointed nodal officers under various categories for the elections and around 10,000 police personnel have been given training by the master trainers.
“Around 40000-42000 security personnel from different forces, 115 companies of CAPF, and 22 state armed police forces will be deployed during the elections in the state,” he said. The ADG said separate security deployment will be made at sensitive polling booths.
“Inter-state, inter-district check posts have been identified. We have started the work to strengthen them. We have given instructions for the installation of CCTVs at inter state barriers. At maximum locations, CCTVs have already been installed,” he added.
BJP state media in charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said, “Our party will retain all five Lok Sabha seats in the state. We will get a 75 % overall vote share in the state. Under the leadership of PM Modi and CM Dhami, our double-engine government has brought drastic change in the lives of people. India’s image at the global level has gained prominence. In Narendra Modi’s third term as PM, India will become the third-largest economy in the world. And by 2025, Uttarakhand will become a leading state in the country.”
Mathura Dutt Joshi, state Congress vice president (organisation), said, “The people of Uttarakhand are fed up with the current government. They will vote for a change in favour of the Congress. In the last 10 years, the NDA government at the Centre has failed to address issues like inflation, unemployment and so on.”
The BJP has already announced its candidates on five Lok Sabha seats in the state. The BJP fielded sitting MPs Ajay Tamta from Almora, Ajay Bhatt from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar and Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah from Tehri Garhwal, and named Anil Baluni from Garhwal and Trivendra Singh Rawat from Haridwar.
The Congress has declared its candidates for three seats -- Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal and Almora. Ganesh Godiyal has been fielded from Garhwal, Jot Singh Gunsola from Tehri Garhwal and Pradeep Tamta from Almora. The Congress is yet to name its candidates from Haridwar and Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seats.
