Voting is being held across 25 districts in Uttar Pradesh today. (Representational)
Voting for the second phase of local body elections is being held today across 25 districts in Uttar Pradesh. The first phase of civic polls in the state, which covered 24 districts and was held on November 22,
saw a voter turnout of over 52 per cent.
The third and final phase of the UP civic polls will cover 26 districts and voting will take place on November 29. Counting will be held on December 1 and results will be declared the same day.
The local body elections will serve as a popularity test for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath nearly eight months after the BJP was elected to power in a landslide victory. It is also being viewed as an opportunity for Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party to regain ground in the state.
Here are the live updates of the civic polls.
The BJP has assigned tasks to 31 MLAs, whose Assembly constituencies do not have a nagar panchayat or nagar palika parishad within their limits, to ensure that the saffron party emerges victorious in the ongoing polls. "Different tasks have been assigned to the 31 MLAs, ranging from actively campaigning for the party candidates to organising various events to galvanise public support for the party,"Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said.
Apart from Mohsin Raza, UP state minister Swati Singh also exercised her franchise within four hours after the voting began today morning, according to PTI. Polling for the second phase of the UP civic polls will continue till 5 pm.
Enthusiastic voters were seen queued outside polling stations in Lucknow to choose their first woman mayor in 100 years on a wintry Sunday afternoon, PTI reported.
With the Lucknow mayoral seat reserved for women, prominent contestants in a field of 19 are Sayukta Bhatia (BJP), Prema Awasthi (Congress), Bulbul Godiyal (BSP), Priyanka Maheshwari (AAP) and Meera Vardhan (SP).
In state capital Lucknow, 23,27,900 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 2,201 polling booths, District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma was quoted as saying in a PTI report.
After casting his vote for the UP civic polls, State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal urged the people of the state to step out of their homes to exercise their franchise. "If you want basic amenities in your city, you should come out of your home and vote in large numbers," he was quoted as saying in a PTI report.
Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma exercised his franchise with his wife in Aishbagh area today. "The BJP is committed to work for the people and opposition should realise that it was the people's love and trust which ensured the party's victory in the assembly polls. In civic polls too, the party is going to win," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
In a first, state capital Lucknow is set to elect its first woman mayor in 100 years. The mayoral seat was reserved for women.
For the first time, drones fitted with cameras are being used to maintain law and order situation in Mathura during voting. While videography is being done in 95 polling booths, 85 polling centres have been selected for web casting, PTI reported citing an official.
Polling is being observed in several important cities today including state capital Lucknow and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi.
As the polling began for the second phase this morning, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey urged people of the state to come out in huge numbers. He had expressed confidence that BJP would claim majority in the civic elections. "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,"
Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today took a jibe at BJP's "Digital India" campaign saying that many voters could not find their names in the voting list. "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," he tweeted.
BJP has exuded confidence that it would sweep the 2017 civic polls. In a bid to ensure victory, the saffron party divided the election management tasks among 31 MLAs, whose assembly constituencies do not have a nagar panchayat or nagar palika parishad within their limits. "Different tasks have been assigned to the 31 MLAs, ranging from actively campaigning for the party candidates to organising various events to galvanise public support for the party," state BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told PTI.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress had forged an alliance to contest the assembly elections earlier this year. However, after facing a debacle, the two parties are contesting the local body elections separately.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh was spotted leaving a polling booth in Lucknow after casting his vote for UP civic polls, ANI reported. BJP claimed a landslide victory in assembly elections in March. Mr Singh also tweeted a picture from his official account showing his inked finger.
Former chief minister and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday alleged the BJP government was misusing the state machinery and "hampering the chances of free and fair elections". He also accused the Election Commission of ignoring the claims of tampering of electronic voting machines (EVM).
Similar concerns were raised by Aam Admi Party leader Atishi Marlena on Friday as she urged the Election Commission to conduct a thorough probe into allegations that the EVMs used in local body elections were casting votes only for the BJP at several places.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and wife Rajkumari Devi reached a polling booth in Allahabad today morning to cast their vote, ANI reported.
The BJP had swept the civic polls in 2012 claiming victory over 10 of the 12 mayoral posts. It is yet to be seen if Yogi Adityanath, who ran a rigorous campaign for the civic polls, would be able to deliver a similar performance this time.
Polling for the second phase is being held at 13,776 polling booths today as 1.29 crore voters exercise their right to vote, PTI reported.
For the second phase, voting is underway in 25 districts in the state having 189 local bodies covering 3,601 wards. Beating the early morning chills, voters reached polling booth in Aligarh to exercise their franchise.
UP cabinet minister Mohsin Raza reached a polling booth in Lucknow today morning to cast his vote for the civic polls, ANI reported.
Voting for the second phase of the local body elections began today around 7:30 am in Uttar Pradesh. The civic polls are being viewed as a litmus test for the Yogi Adityanath-led state government.