Polling for the second phase covering 25 districts began on Sunday. Voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security. The campaigning for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh civic elections ended in 25 districts, including Varanasi, on Friday. State election commissioner SK Agarwal had reviewed poll preparations through video conferencing with district magistrates, district election officers, senior police officers and polling observers. Over 52 percent voting was recorded in the first phase on 22 November which covered 24 districts. [caption id=“attachment_4227959” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] After the BJP formed the government in the state with absolute majority in March, this will be the first battle of ballot that will test the popularity of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Unlike other parties, the BJP is taking the civic polls seriously and besides the chief minister himself and his two deputies, senior party leaders are extensively campaigning in the state. While the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have left the campaigning to second-rank leaders, the Congress has engaged senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar and MP Pramod Tewari to address election meetings in selected cities of the state. Besides Varanasi, the districts going to polls in the second phase are Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budhnagar, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Mainpuri , Farrukhabad, Etawah, Lalitpur, Banda, Allahabad, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia and Bhadohi. Counting of votes for all the three phases will be on 1 December and results will be declared the same day. With inputs from PTI
Uttar Pradesh civic polls Phase 2 updates: Bahraich SP suspends cop who misbehaved with media
Polling for the third and final phase covering 26 districts began on Sunday. Voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security.
 "Uttar Pradesh civic polls Phase 2 updates: Bahraich SP suspends cop who misbehaved with media")
Shots fired at Aliganj polling booth
In the society polling booth in Aliganj, Raza Ahmed fired a gun at Aliganj MLA Satyapal Rathore’s two sons, allege family members. Victims admitted to hospital while the voting was stopped for some time.
PL Punia’s statement: Link EVMs to Aadhaar
PL Punia reached Barabanki to vote. He said that the government should link EVMs to Aadhaar. He alleged that there was a conspiracy to remove voters’ names from the list. He also said that there are errors in voters’ lists in many districts.
BJP MLA from Jalesar injured in stone-pelting
During the election in Etah, SP and BJP groups clashed as information of buying of votes spread. BJP legislator Sanjiv Divakar was injured in the exchange.
Names of 600 voters missing in Bareilly
Reports of incorrect voter lists are coming in from ward 54 in Bareilly’s Bhood area. Out of 1,250 voters, the names of about 600 voters are missing and those on the voter list are either dead or have settled elsewhere. People are angry at the BLO. Similar problems are being reported in Ward 80 as well.
Polling progress in Kushinagar district at 12.50 pm
Padrona: 26.6 percent
Kushinagar: 3.33 percent
Hata: 2.3 percent
Ramkola: 28 percent
Captainganj: 29.5 percent
Khadda: 35.73 percent
Sevarhi: 27 percent
A 95-year-old voted in Siddhartha Nagar
The officers and staff in the control room are unable to reveal real-time polling percentages. This is in defiance of the orders of the State Election Commission.
Case registered against policeman for beating up BJP leader
In Shahjahanpur-Jalalabad town, a case was registered against Sub-Inspector Randhir Singh and 8 unknown policemen who beat up BJP leader Manoj Kashyap. The accused is stationed in the Devarania police station of Bareilly but had come on election duty to Jalalabad.
Kanpur Dehat voting progress till 11.30 pm
Akbarpur: 24 percent
Pukharya: 28 percent
Jhinjhak: 35 percent
Rasulabad: 21 percent
Derapura: 37 percent
Shiwli: 38 percent
Rura: 27 percent
Sikandra: 24 percent
Amraudha: 42 percent
Case filed against former Samajwadi Party MLA for violating code of conduct
Case lodged against former MLA and Samajwadi Party’s candidate Radheyamyam Jaiswal for violating code of conduct and spreading rumours. Complaint was filed by independent candidate, Tinchu Gupta.
Municipal Body Elections 2017 Final Phase Firozabad voting progress
Firozabad Municipal Corporation: 20 percent
Shikohabad Municipality: 18 percent
Sirasganj Municipality: 22 percent
Tundla Municipality: 23 percent
Eka Nagar Panchayat: 26 percent
Farihah Nagar Panchayat: 31 percent
Jasrana Nagar Panchayat: 19 percent
In Barabanki, security forces chase away the supporters of contestants
People catch Congress candidate trying to buy votes, hand him over to police
The people caught the Congress candidate Bobby Karnwal and his associates trying to buy votes with cash and handed them to the police.
Public boycotts election in Firozabad ward 31
In Firozabad ward no 31, the public boycotted the election as they alleged that the BLO (acting with the opposition party) had removed the names of at least 1000 people from the voter list. The people of the ward will meet the DM to request for re-election.
All candidates in Bulandshahr Kakad Nagar Panchayat arrested
All the candidates in Bulandshahr Kakad Nagar Panchayat were arrested on suspicion of disturbing of peace.
Hundreds of voters barge into polling booths over issue of missing names
Hundreds of angry voters barged into polling booths at Jaunpur after discovering their names were missing from the polls. Over 500 voters said their names had gone missing from the lists. These voters were expelled from the booths and voting has begun again.
Entire families’ names go missing in Jaunpur
In Jaunpur, Paras Nath Yadav, a former Cabinet minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government, had his and his entire family’s name missing from the voter lists. The angry minister spoke to the media outside the polling booth and alleged there was a conspiracy at play.
At Mughalsarai’s SG Ravi Nagar Public School, happy voters pose after casting their votes
Voting resumes in Firozabad after ruckus over ‘faulty’ EVMs
In Firozabad, where a ruckus over faulty EVM machines had halted polling for 30 minutes, the issue has been resolved. Voting resumes, reports The Financial Express.
Over 500 names go missing from voter lists in Jaunpur
There was a great deal of agitation among voters of Jaunpur, after over 500 voters realised their names had gone missing from voter lists, media agencies have reported. Several names were found to be missing from voter lists in the first two phases as well.
Mistakes in voter lists in Balrampur and Lakhimpur
In Balrampur, many voters returned disappointed as their names were not in the voter list. Lakhimpur saw crowd disturbances as names of dead people appeared in the voting list but names of entire families were missing.
Posters thrown at voting centres in Baghpat
In Baghpat, campaign material was thrown outside polling booths. Six bike riders threw posters of RLD candidate Ashwani Tomar at several booths of Badout municipality.
Stone-pelting in Etah
Two groups pelt stones at each other in Etah as information spreads about the distribution of money to voters. Jalesar MLA Sanjiv Divakar was injured in the stone pelting. A case was registered in Jalsar police station town.
Fake voters arrested in Jaunpur
In Jaunpur, two fake voters were arrested by the presiding officer and handed over to the police at booth no. 8 of Shahganj tehsil ward.
Regional heavyweights stay away from campaigning
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has not campaigned extensively, but held select rallies and a few press conferences, reports NDTV. BSP supremo Mayawati did not campaign at all despite the BSP contesting the polls after more than two decades. This is a change from its earlier strategy of avoiding local elections.
Candidate arrested outside voting site
In Bareilly, the Faridpur Police arrested a candidate outside the voting site with Rs 30,000. The arrested person is Saif Raza, an independent in Ward no 22
Congress candidate arrested in Saharanpur
A Congress candidate was arrested in Saharanpur on charges of buying votes, reports Financial Express.
Latest voting figures
Barabanki: 8 percent voting till 9 am.
Chandauli: 8 percent voting till 9 am.
Rae Bareli: 15 percent voting
Cong, SP, BSP have no agenda: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday had alleged that the “trio of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress” lacked a concrete agenda and were hell bent only on stopping Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“These three parties (SP, BSP and Congress) do not have any agenda. They have lost the mandate of the people and are hell bent in stopping and pushing Prime Minister Narenda Modi. But, their plans will never succeed,” Maurya told an election rally.
Women turn out in heavy numbers in Kannauj
Women in Kannauj turned out in heavy numbers. Initial reports say women outnumbered the men in Kannauj.
The second phase of civic polls in Uttar Pradesh saw large-scale faults in voters lists in almost all the districts, giving rise to allegations that the state Election Commission was not prepared for polling.
In the second phase, polling took place at 25 districts in the state, and 48.65 percent of the electorate exercised their franchise.
Missing voters’ names from lists was a common complaint across all 25 districts that went to polls. Even political heavyweights like Union minister Kalraj Mishra and Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi had their names missing. In fact, Mishra had travelled all the way from Delhi to cast his vote.
The 84 km-long Indo-Nepal border has been sealed ahead of the third phase of civic polls on Wednesday.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is enforcing the sealing of the border, District Magistrate and Electoral Officer Virendra Kumar Singh told reporters.
“Only emergency vehicles will be allowed across the border during this period,” he said.
The threat of Maoists and the porous Indo-Nepal border are the two biggest challenges during the third phase of municipal polls in Maharajganj and the International Border has been sealed to tackle this, the official said.
The political setup around the polls
The BJP has enjoyed a majority in most of these urban bodies and this time, the elections are being seen as the first litmus test of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government after its massive victory in state assembly polls held earlier in 2017.
Of the urban body polls held in 2012, BJP had a mayor in 12 of the 14 municipal corporations. Only Allahabad and Rampur had mayors from the opposition camp.
In 2012, Uttar Pradesh was under a Samajwadi Party (SP) rule and the feat was a major one for the BJP as it had not been in power for more than a decade then.
Thereafter, the BJP has been making impressive electoral gains and won 73 out of the 80 parliamentary seats in the watershed 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It then romped home with a decisive majority of 325 seats of the 403 assembly seats in the 2017 state assembly polls.
With inputs from IANS
Voting starts in 26 districts
The polling will cover 233 urban bodies spread across 26 districts, including five municipal corporations of Bareilly, Saharanpur, Jhansi, Firozabad and Moradabad, an official said, according to IANS.
Voting for 76 Nagar Palika Parishads and 152 urban panchayats is also underway.
Firozabad EVM malfunctions
Booth number 44 in Firozabad inactive because of the non-functioning EVM. The authorities are trying to replace the EVM.
Uttar Pradesh’s Panchayati Raj Minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary arrives in Moradabad to vote in the municipal election
Voting begins in Barabanki
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