AMN / WEB DESK
All the necessary preparations have been made for the Fourth of the Seven-Phase polling of Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh, tomorrow (Wednesday). The polling will be conducted from 7.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M.
The Fourth Phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh will be conducted in 59 Assembly Constituencies including 16 ACs reserved for the Scheduled Castes from nine districts. These districts include Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Lucknow, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur, and Banda district.
During the Fourth Phase of Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh, there are total 624 candidates in fray for 59 Assembly seats. Maximum 15 candidates are vying for Sawayazpur while a minimum of six candidates each are contesting for two seats including Palia and Sevata seat.
The total number of eligible electors for this phase is 2.13 crore including 1.14 crore male, 99.3 lakh female, and 966 third gender voters. In all, 24,643 Polling Stations have been set up in the concerned constituencies for their convenience.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has formed an alliance with Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD Party led by Sanjay Nishad. The Samajwadi Party has entered into an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party-led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, Janvadi Party (Socialist) and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) led by Krishna Patel and Mahan Dal. All India Trinamool Congress has announced support to the SP, but decided not to field its candidates in the polls. Meanwhile, the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party have announced to go in for the upcoming polls without any alliance. Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has formed an alliance with Babu Singh Kushwaha’s Jan Adhikar Party and Bharat Mukti Morcha. Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s Azad Samaj Party has also floated an alliance with over 30 regional parties. The alliance is named Samajik Parivartan Morcha. The Janta Dal (United) is contesting the polls independently in the state.
The prominent BJP candidates participating in this phase include Ministers Ranvendra Pratap Singh, Ashutosh Tandon, Brajesh Pathak, former Minister Rajendra Patel, Arvind Giri, State General Secretary Amarpal Maurya along with Nitin Agrawal, Mahant Pravaktanand, Sanjay Singh Gangwar, Neeraj Bora, Ex-Police Officer Rajeshwar Singh, Jai Devi and Aditi Singh. The BJP alliance partner Apna Dal (S) has fielded Minister Jai Kumar Singh Jaiki and Lakshmikant Rawat.
Samajwadi Party has nominated former Ministers Ravidas Mehrotra, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Sudheer Rawat, Abhishek Mishra, Hemraj, and Usha Verma along with Brajesh Prajapati, Vishambhar Yadav, Vinay Tiwari, Daud Ahmad, Shyam Sunder Bharati, Sushila Saroj, and Manjula Singh for this phase. The BSP has fielded former Leader of Opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar, former Ministers Anees Ahmad Khan and Shane Ali along with Dheeraj Prakash, Sarwar Malik, Dr Zakir Hussain, Shakeel Ahmad, Lajwanti Kureel, Anjali Maurya, and Shikha Kanaujia. Former Minister Surendra Vikram Singh along with Ahmad Noori, Harpreet Singh, Risaal Ahmad, Pralhad Patel, Susheel Kumar Pasi, Shankarlal Gautam, Lakshmi Narain, Rudra Daman Singh, Ajay Shrivastav, Manoj Tiwari, Sadaf Jafar, Asha Singh, Ritu Singh, and Aakanksha Verma from Congress are also in the fray.
The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is being used along with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at every Polling Station, with a view to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election process, as VVPAT allows the voter to verify his or her vote. The arrangements have already been made to ensure availability of an adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of elections.
In view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and rising cases of Omicron variant across the country, Election Commission has laid focus on COVID-safe elections with maximum participation. It is going to ensure the safety of vote and voters as both are equally and critically important in democracy.
The Election Commission has decided to allow maximum 1,250 electors in a Polling Station instead of earlier stipulation of 1,500 electors. Accordingly, there is a major change in the number of Polling Stations in the poll-bound states of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Option of Postal Ballot facility has been extended to the electors who are COVID-19 positive or suspect as certified by competent authority and are in-home or institutional quarantine along with those marked as Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and above the age of 80 years.
As per the Election Commission instructions, the concerned Chief Electoral Officers are ensuring that every Polling Station is equipped with Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) like drinking water, waiting shed, toilet with water facility, adequate arrangements for lighting, ramp of an appropriate gradient for the Persons with Disabilities. The special facilities include mandatory sanitization of Polling Station, thermal checking of voters at entry point either by polling staff or paramedical staff or an Asha worker. At the last hour of poll, such electors will be facilitated for voting, strictly following COVID-19 related preventive measures.
In view of the pandemic, the Commission has decided to extend the poll timing by one hour in all Assembly Constituencies. The COVID-19 patients, who are quarantined, will be allowed to cast their vote at the last hour of the poll day at their respective Polling Stations, under the supervision of health authorities, strictly following COVID-19 related preventive measures. Proper mechanism of collection and disposal of waste or used gloves will be put in place at each Polling Station.