UP panchayat election 2021: Voting for over 2.10 lakh seats across 17 districts begins in final phase

Lucknow: The voting for the fourth and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections has begun at 7 AM on Thursday (April 29).

Over 5.27 lakh candidates are in the fray for more than 2.10 lakh seats across 17 districts in this round of the election.

"More than 2.98 crore voters will be casting their votes in the fourth and last phase of the polls which will be held from 7 am to 6 pm," officials said.

The polling is scheduled in the districts of Ambedkar Nagar, Aligarh, Kushinagar, Kaushambi, Ghazipur, Farrukhabad, Bulandshahr, Basti, Bahraich, Banda, Mau, Mathura, Shahjahanpur, Sambhal, Sitapur, Sonbhadra and Hapur, the State Election Commission (SEC) said.

According to the poll body, there are 10,679 candidates in the fray for 738 posts of Zila panchayat members in the final phase. A total of 55,408 candidates are contesting for 18,356 posts of kshetra panchayat members.

While 1,14,400 candidates are in the fray for posts of gram panchayat members, 3,47,436 contestants are fighting for 1,77,648 posts in gram panchayat wards, it said.

In the first phase of the polls held on April 15, an average polling percentage of 71 was recorded. The second phase of the polls on April 19 also saw over 71 per cent of polling.

In the third phase of the polls held on April 26, a polling percentage of 73.5 was recorded, according to SEC officials.

The 2015 panchayat polls had registered a polling percentage of 72.11, the poll panel said.

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

The Allahabad High Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to conclude the panchayat election process by May 25.

The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

Here are the live updates of the Uttar Pradesh panchayat election 2021:

Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, Aligarh, said in a statement that, "All the three candidates were holding rallies and processions wherein none of the participants was wearing masks,"

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

At the district level, chief medical officers have been made nodal officers to emphasize on following the Covid-19 protocol.

Voters will mandatorily have to wear masks and maintain social distancing at polling booths. Instructions have also been issued to make circles maintaining a distance of six feet between voters standing in the queue.

The counting of votes will take place on May 2. For the counting, thermal scanners will be put into use at almost all counting centres to check the candidates and their agents before they are allowed to enter the counting centre.

Uttar Pradesh recorded a 10.51 per cent voter turnout till 9 am across 17 districts in the final phase of the Panchayat elections. Voting began at 7 am. People can be seen queued up in order to cast their votes at various polling booths. The EC is adhering to the strict COVID-19 guidelines. 

(Inputs from agencies)