Uttar Pradesh Block Pramukh elections: Polling for 476 seats today; all you need to know

In Uttar Pradesh, voting for the block panchayat pramukh elections is underway today, 10 July. The voting started at from 11 am and is expected to end by 3 pm. After 3 pm, the votes will be counted following which the results will be announced. As per the commission, a total of 1,778 candidates had filed their nominations while the candidature of 68 was cancelled due to discrepancies in the nomination papers. After this, as many as 1,710 candidates were supposed to battle it out for 476 posts of block pramukh in the state. However, 187 candidates took back their nomination papers on Friday leaving 1,523 aspirants. Yesterday, 9 July, on the last day of the nomination of papers, 349 candidates were elected unopposed for block panchayat pramukh posts. Out of which, 334 are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party has its eyes set on more than 650 posts of block pramukhs in the state. Swatantra Dev Singh, State unit president of the BJP, in a statement shared that a state of good governance and development has been established in UP after the formation of the BJP government under CM Yogi Adityanath’s leadership. However, opposition parties including Congress, Samajwadi Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party have attacked the BJP for disrespecting women during the election process and damaging democracy. The Samajwadi Party has accused the BJP of misusing government machinery to prevent opposition candidates from filing nomination papers. Also, 24 incidents of violence were reported from 22 UP districts during the filing of nomination papers following which, the UP police registered 16 FIRs. In most of the districts, BJP and Samajwadi Party cadres had clashed with bricks and crude bombs. ADG Law and Order, Prashant Kumar told  The Times of India, “In all, 115 persons were named in these 16 FIRs and 1,730 others were booked who were unidentified. 25 who were identified have been arrested”.