THE STAGE is all set for the first phase of the urban local bodies poll on Saturday to elect chairmen of nagar palika parishads and members of wards that fall under the parishads.
Polling will be held in 51 districts in Agra, Bareilly, Meerut, Kanpur, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Devipatan, Allahabad, Basti, Moradabad, Lucknow, Faizabad and Saharanpur divisions. In view of Chhath festival, the State Election Commission (SEC) has already postponed election in four divisions, including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Mirzapur. SEC officials on Friday said the Central Government had provided 12 companies of rapid action force (RAF) and five companies of SSB for deployment in sensitive districts.
Director (Personnel), Union Home Ministry, Manoj Agarwal has informed state election commissioner Aparmita Prasad Singh that Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) would be deployed in the districts to maintain law and order during the polling.
SEC officials said 90,83,065 voters would exercise their franchise for election of 167 chairmen of nagar palika parishads and 4425 ward members.
While, the SEC has planned to depute 2,18,876 employees on poll duty, 44,392 employees will be deputed for counting of ballot papers and 924 employees as election observers.
{{/usCountry}}While, the SEC has planned to depute 2,18,876 employees on poll duty, 44,392 employees will be deputed for counting of ballot papers and 924 employees as election observers.
{{/usCountry}}Additional election commissioner Vinay Priya Dubey said a Rs 5 lakh insurance cover has been provided to the poll personnel.
The SEC has set up 3274 polling centres and 3274 polling booths. While 1136 polling centres have been identified as sensitive, 1465 polling centres have been marked as extrasensitive.
Meanwhile, the Gorakhpur administration conducted a training programme for the employees engaged in election duty. During the training programme, he Mahewa market, officials were given election kits.