Notification for UP local bodies polls in June first week

Lucknow: The notification for the Uttar Pradesh local bodies elections will be issued in the first week of June, state election commissioner S.K. Agarwal said on Friday.

Talking to reporters in Gorakhpur, Agarwal said the entire poll process would be completed before July 8.

However, the election body has yet to decide the election dates.

Agarwal said officials in all the 75 districts have been asked to ensure proper law and order in the run-up to the polls and to launch a special drive for rounding up unscrupulous elements.

He said while M2 electronic voting machines (EVMs) made between 2006-2012 would be used in the local body polls, VPPAT will not be used. Voting for Nagar Panchayats however would be done through ballot papers.

Having secured a landslide victory in this year`s assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party will be eyeing to win the maximum number of seats, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) will hope to regain its lost support base.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, which supported other candidates in the past, is contesting the polls for the first time.

The Congress will go it alone. The Congress had contested the February-March assembly elections in alliance with the then ruling SP.