Voting for 58 seats in Phase 1 of UP assembly polls on Feb 10; fate of 9 ministers to be sealed

NEW DELHI: Voting will be held in 58 assembly constituencies spread across 11 districts in the western region for Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022 on Thursday (Feb 10, 2022). The polling will start at 7 am in these constituencies according to the guidelines of the Election Commission to ensure Covid-safe polls. The voting will end at 6 pm.

PM Narendra Modi has led the election campaign for the BJP from the front. The Prime Minister pitched for a double-engine government for fast-paced development in Uttar Pradesh while attacking the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine.

In their speeches, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tried to put the spotlight back on the alleged “exodus" of Hindus from Kairana before 2017. SP president Akhilesh Yadav, on the other hand, claimed that people are clear about not voting for the ruling BJP this time.

The first phase mostly covers the Jat-dominant belt of western UP. Campaigning for the first phase of the UP Assembly Election 2022 ended on Tuesday (February 8) at 6 pm marking the start of a 48-hour-long silence period.  

In wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Election Commission has imposed a ban on roadshows and physical rallies and as a result, the political parties were forced to campaign using the virtual medium.

Around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election, but only those with valid identity proof will be allowed to cast their votes. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

The districts where the elections will be held are Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra. The political parties have already announced their key promises and each party has promised freebies.

For the 58 seats including nine reserved seats, there are a total of 623 candidates. These include 58 each from the BJP, BSP, SP-RLD, Congress and other parties as well as independents. The key constituencies that are going to polls are Mathura, Thana Bhavan, Muzaffarnagar, Noida, Kairana, Baghpat and Atrauli. 

The key candidates are Pankaj Singh, Suresh Rana, Mriganka Singh, Sandeep Singh (grandson of late Kalyan Singh), Shrikant Sharma, Ahmad Hameed and Kapil Dev Aggarwal. 

In the first phase of polling, fate of nine outgoing ministers will be decided – Suresh Rana, Atul Garg, Shrikant Sharma, Sandeep Singh, Anil Sharma, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Dinesh Khatik, Dr G S Dharmesh and Chaudhary Laxmi Narain.

Other prominent names are former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya from Agra Rural, Uttar Pradesh BJP vice president Pankaj Singh from Noida and Mriganka Singh from Kairana.

In the 2017 elections, the BJP had bagged 53 seats out of 58 while Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had got two seats each and the one Rashtriya Lok Dal had won one seat.

Just a day ahead of polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday exuded confidence about winning assembly elections in all five poll-bound states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will emerge victorious and form governments with an absolute majority.

As per the Election Commission order, the voting will be held using COVID-19 safety protocols and the guidelines as issued by the Election Commission from time to time. While voters are required to wear masks, maintain social distance and use sanitiser while voting, the election officials will also be given a COVID-19 kit to conduct the election smoothly. 

Thermal scanning of all persons will be carried out before allowing them to enter the EVM room. The election commission may reserve the last one hour of the polling for COVID positive voters.

Voters are required to bring the EPIC to the polling booth to establish their identity. If a voter is not able to bring their EPIC card, he/she will have to produce any of the 12 optional photo ID cards which are – Service identity cards with photographs for employees of Central and State governments – PSUs and Public Limited Companies, Passport, Driving licence, PAN card, Aadhaar card, MGNREGA job card, health insurance smart card issued under schemes of the Ministry of Labour, passbooks with photographs issued by banks or post offices, smart card issued by RGI under NPR, pension document with photograph, official identity cards for MPs, MLAs and MLCs.

The exit poll for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be out on March 7 after the conclusion of the last phase of polls in the state.