UP civic polls 2017: The mayoral seat in Lucknow was reserved for women this time. (PTI)
Around 51-52 per cent polling was recorded from the 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh including Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, that voted today in the second round of civic polls. The voting is seen as a major test for the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government which came to power after a massive win in assembly polls in March. The Chief Minister has campaigned extensively across the state for the three-phased elections, the results for which will be declared on December 1. A win will not only be seen as an endorsement of the eight-month-old state government but will also come as a major boost for the ruling party ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat next month.
Here is your 10-point cheatsheet on the second phase of civic elections:
The 51-52 per cent polling this time in the 25 districts shows a jump over the previous turnout of 43.67," State Election Commissioner S K Agarwal told reporters at the close of the polling hours.
State capital Lucknow is set to make history as it is voting to elect its first woman mayor in 100 years. The mayoral seat was reserved for women this time. The prominent contestants in a field of 19 were Sayukta Bhatia (BJP), Prema Awasthi (Congress), Bulbul Godiyal (BSP), Priyanka Maheshwari (AAP) and Meera Vardhan (SP).
Mr Agarwal said that complaints regarding malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were reported at certain places and added that the machines were replaced quickly and the polling continued without any disruption.
In another first, drones fitted with cameras are being used in Mathura to maintain law and order and for proper monitoring of the election process. According to an official, 85 polling centres in Mathura have been selected for web casting, while videography would be done in 95 polling booths.
The BJP has a strong grip on the urban local bodies in the state, especially the mayoral seats. The party has always won these polls in Varanasi and has won the Lucknow mayor's seat four straight times. The challenge for Yogi Adityanath is to match the assembly poll performance. In 2012, the BJP swept the civic polls, winning 10 of the 12 mayoral posts.
"The feedback we had received from party workers the voting ended in the first phase (of the urban local bodies polls) was indeed very encouraging. The BJP is going to bag three-fourths of all the seats in these polls," state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said in a statement.
Over 52 per cent voting was recorded in the first phase of voting. Rahul Gandhi's parliamentary constituency of Amethi saw the highest voter turnout at 68.44 per cent while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home base of Gorakhpur registered the lowest at 39.23 per cent.
"Media reports that a lot of voters names are missing from the voting list of today's election.This type of digital India cannot take us forward," jibed Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in a tweet, referring to PM Modi's 'Digital India' campaign. Mr Yadav's party and the Congress, which came together for the assembly polls earlier this year, are contesting the civic polls separately.
Former Chief Minister Mayawati has not campaigned at all even though her BSP is contesting the polls after over two decades, signalling a change in strategy from the past when the party avoided contesting local elections. The BSP was decimated in the 2014 national election and was a distant third in the assembly polls.
The last phase of polling will be held on the 29th, Wednesday and votes will be counted on December 1. Around 30 million voters are eligible to vote for more than 650 posts.
(With agency inputs)Post a comment