Lucknow: Voting for the first of the four-phase Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections will be held on Thursday (April 15) in 18 districts with ballot papers. Polling will take place from 7 am to 6 pm. The districts that will go to the polls are Ayodhya, Agra, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Jhansi, Allahabad, Bareilly, Bhadohi, Mahoba, Rampur, Raebareli, Shravasti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Saharanpur, Hardoi, and Hathras.


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For the post of Zila panchayat members, 11,442 candidates are in the fray from 779 wards, while as many as 81,747 candidates are contesting in 19,313 wards of kshetra panchayats. For the gram panchayat, there are 1,14,142 candidates for 14,789 posts. For gram panchayat wards, there are 1,26,613 candidates for 1,86,583 seats.


More than 3.33 lakh candidates in the fray in over 2.21 lakh seats in the first phase for the posts of Zila panchayat (district council) members, kshetra (block) panchayat members, village panchayat heads, and wards.


 


In view of the coronavirus situation, the State Election Commission (SEC) earlier in March told PTI that not more than five people would be allowed to accompany a candidate during door-to-door campaigning for the panchayat elections.


Additional Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma reportedly said a three-member team was formed under the additional district magistrates to ensure the directives issued by the SEC were being followed.


The chief medical officers have been made nodal officers at the district level, and stress has been laid on the COVID-19 prevention.


Apart from the BJP, BSP, Samajwadi Party, and the Congress, the parties like AIMIM, Aam Aadmi Party, and Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad's Azad Samaj Party are also making their debut in the state panchayat polls. 


The AIMIM will contest polls in alliance with the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, The candidates will, however, contest on 'free symbols' given the Election Commission.


During polling, the voters will have to put up a mask and maintain social distancing. Instructions have also been issued to make circles at a distance of six feet at the polling centres.


The Allahabad High Court had asked the state government to complete the panchayat-election process by May 25. 


BJP MP seeks deferment of Panchayat polls 


In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Mohanlalganj, Kaushal Kishore, has asked the state election commission (SEC) to defer the Panchayat elections by a month.


Kaushal Kishore tweeted that instead of conducting elections, saving the lives of people should be of prime concern. He said that thousands are in the grip of disease.


In a tweet, he said, "The crematoriums are flooded with dead bodies," while tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.


This comes a day after state minister Brijesh Pathak wrote a letter to senior health officials, underlining the poor state of the health system in the state capital amid a surge in the COVID-19 cases.


(With Agency Inputs)