Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022: Filing of nominations for third phase of polls in 59 seats begins today

Lucknow: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will issue the notification for the filing of nominations for the third phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022 on Tuesday. A total of 59 assembly segments across 16 districts will be covered in the third phase of polls in the BJP-ruled state. 

According to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ajay Kumar Shukla, the notification for the third phase would be issued at 1100 hours. On Monday, scrutiny of nominations was done for the first phase of polls. In view of the Covid-19 situation, the apex poll body has extended the facility of filling the online application to candidates through its web portal - suvidha.eci.gov.in

In view of the Covid-19, no candidate is allowed to hold a procession at the time of filing the nomination. Total 58 assembly seats will go to polls in the first phase across 11 districts of western UP. A total of 815 candidates have filed their nominations in this phase. 

The nomination process of the second phase also commenced on January 21 and till now only 10 candidates have submitted their papers.  The voting in Uttar Pradesh will be held in 7 phases for 403 assembly seats between February 10 and March 7 while the results will be declared on March 10.

In the first phase polling to be held on February 10, filing of nominations commenced from January 14 which ended on January 21, scrutiny on January 24 and the last date for withdrawal is January 27. 

In the second phase polling to be held on February 14, filing of nominations commenced from January 21, last date for filing of nominations is January 28, scrutiny on January 29 and the last date for withdrawal is January 31.

Altogether 55 assembly segments will go to the polls in the second phase covering 9 districts of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Sambhal, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun and Shahjahanpur. 

In the third phase polling to be held on February 20, filing of nominations will commence from January 25, last date for filing of nominations is February 1, scrutiny on February 2 and candidates can withdraw their candidature till February 4.

A total of 59 assembly segments will go to the polls in the third phase in 16 districts which are Kasganj, Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur. 

In the 2017 elections, BJP swept the polls winning 50 seats of these 59 assembly segments which will go to the polls in the third phase while SP could win 7 seats and one each went to BSP and Congress. Already over 120 companies of Central Forces have reached UP to maintain the law and order during the polls. 

In the fourth phase polling to be held on February 23, filing of nominations will commence from January 27, the last date for filing of nominations is February 3, scrutiny on February 4 and the last date for withdrawal is February 7. 

A total of 60 assembly segments of the Awadh region will go to the polls in this phase covering 9 districts including Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Lucknow, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur and Banda.

In the fifth phase polling to be held on February 27, filing of nominations will commence from February 1, the last date for filing of nominations is February 8, scrutiny on February 9 and the last date for withdrawal is February 11. 

A total of 60 assembly seats will go to the polls in the fifth phase covering 11 districts of Shravasti, Bahraich, Barabanki, Gonda, Ayodhya, Amethi, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Chitrakoot and Prayagraj. In the sixth phase polling to be held on March 3, filing of nominations will commence from February 4, the last date for filing of nominations is February 11, scrutiny on February 14 and the last date for withdrawal is February 14. 

In the sixth phase, 57 assembly segments will go to the polls in 10 districts of Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria and Ballia. In the seventh and last phase polling to be held on March 7, filing of nominations will commence from February 10, the last date for filing of nominations is February 17, scrutiny on February 18 and the last date for withdrawal is February 21. 

A total of 54 assembly seats will go to the polls covering 10 districts of Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Ghazipur, Chandauli and Sonbhadra.

The Election Commission had on Saturday extended the ban on physical rallies and roadshows till January 31 in the five poll-going states but allowed public meetings with a maximum of 500 people in the constituencies going to poll in the first two phases and relaxed door-to-door campaign rules.

In a statement, it said the limit of five persons for a door-to-door campaign has now been enhanced to 10 persons, excluding security personnel.

Video vans for publicity have also been permitted at designated open spaces with COVID-19 restrictions. It cautioned that the video van events should not cause inconvenience to the people and should not be a hindrance to the smooth flow of traffic.

It will be the responsibility of the district election officer concerned to identify and to notify the designated spaces in advance for the events.