Uttar Pradesh civic body elections: Campaigning ends for first phase, voting on 22 November

Lucknow: Campaigning for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh civic body elections ended on Monday evening for districts where polling would be held on 22 November. [caption id=“attachment_4144193” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Polling in 24 districts, including for mayoral posts, would be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security in phase one of the elections. The remaining phases would be held on 26 and 29 November, and the counting of votes for all the phases would be held on 1 December. Results would be declared on the same day. State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said that adequate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the first phase of the polls He also held a video-conference with district officials. The districts going to polls in the first phase are Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Bijnore, Badaun, Hathras, Kasganj, Agra, Kanpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Amethi, Faizabad, Gonda, Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Sonebhadra. In phase one, polling would be held for five municipal corporations, 71 nagar palika parishads and 154 nagar panchayats. In total, 230 local bodies will go to polls in the first phase, which includes 4,095 wards. There are 1.09 crore voters in this phase who will exercise their franchise at 11,679 booths. In the first phase, 56 candidates are in the fray for five mayor seats, 901 for the chairperson’s post in the 71 nagar palikas and 3,856 nominees for the 1,819 nagar palika wards.