UP panchayat election 2021: Voting for over 2.14 lakh seats across 20 districts begins in third phase

File Photo (PTI)

New Delhi: Voting for the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections has begun at 7 AM on Monday (April 26, 2021). More than 3.52 lakh candidates are in the fray in over 2.14 lakh seats across 20 districts of the state.

As per the State Election Commission (SEC), voting will be held till 6 PM in Shamli, Meerut, Moradabad, Pilibhit, Kasganj, Firozabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur, Siddharthanagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Ballia.

For the posts of 746 members of Zila panchayats, there are 10,627 candidates in the fray, whereas, for the 18,530 posts of members of kshetra panchayats, there are 89,188 candidates.

Around 1,17,789 candidates are in the poll arena for 14,397 village panchayats and for 1,80,473 village panchayat wards, there are 1,34,510 candidates contesting the polls.

Earlier on April 15 during the first phase of the polls, an average polling percentage of 71 was recorded. The second phase on April 19 had witnessed over 71 per cent of polling.

The voters' turnout is likely to be affected due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. 

In view of the coronavirus situation, the SEC had said last month that not more than five people would be allowed to accompany a candidate during the door-to-door campaigning for the panchayat elections.

(With inputs from PTI)