Lucknow, February 19: Voting will be held on Sunday in 59 seats in 16 districts of the third phase in the elections for the 18th Legislative Assembly in Uttar Pradesh. A total of 627 candidates, including 97 women, are in the fray in the third phase. Around 2.16 crore voters will decide the fate of all these candidates.
State’s Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said on Saturday that voting will be held on Sunday from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm amid tight security arrangements. Of the total 59 seats in Phase III, 15 are reserved for Scheduled Castes.
He said that the police have also completed their preparations for fair and peaceful polling. A large number of paramilitary forces have been deployed at sensitive places besides polling booths. Polling parties have been dispatched from respective district headquarters to the polling stations today.
He said that 52 General Observers, 16 Police Observers and 19 Expenditure Observers have also been deployed by the Election Commission to keep a watchful eye on the polling.
“Apart from this, 2235 Sector Magistrates, 273 Zonal Magistrates, 832 Static Magistrates and 3069 Micro Observers have also been deployed. Live webcasting arrangements have been made at 50 percent polling places of each district for supervision of polling,” he added.
Shukla informed that 2.16 crore voters will exercise their franchise in the third phase of polling. Of these, 1.16 crore are male, 0.999 crore female and 1060 third gender voters. In this phase, 15,557 polling stations and 25,794 polling places have been made for voting. Of these, there are 641 Adarsh ​​polling stations. A total of 1, 23,411 polling personnel have been deployed to carry out the election process.
12 other options besides voter ID card for voting
The Chief Electoral Officer said that as per the instructions of the Election Commission, in addition to the voter ID card, 12 other identity cards, such as Aadhar card, MNREGA job card, photo passbook issued by banks and post offices, health insurance issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labor Smart Card, Driving Licence, PAN Card, Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, Indian Passport, Pension Document with photo, Service Identity Card with photo issued by Central or State Government, Public Sector Undertaking, Public Limited Companies to their employees and Government ID cards, Unique Disability ID cards issued to MPs, MLAs and Legislative Council members, Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will be valid for identification of voters at polling places.
Covid protocol will be followed
Shukla said that in view of Covid-19, adequate arrangements have been made for thermal scanners, hand sanitizers, gloves, face masks, face shields, PPE kits, soap, water etc. at the polling places at the time of polling.
He said that voter guides have also been distributed for the convenience of the voters. It also mentions the dos and don’ts related to Kovid-19. In view of Covid-19, instructions have been given by the Election Commission to keep the maximum number of voters up to 1250 at the polling places. Instructions have been given to the district election officers to make available ramps, toilets and drinking water facilities at all polling places.
“During the voting period, all the BLOs have been instructed that they will be present at the helpdesk along with the voter list and help the coming voters,”Shukla added.
The third phase of polling is in these 16 districts
In the third phase, polling will be held on Sunday for 59 assembly seats in Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba.
Voting will be held on these seats
Hathras (SC), Sadabad, Sikandra Rau, Tundla (SC), Jasrana, Firozabad, Shikohabad, Sirsaganj, Kasganj, Amopur, Patiali, Aliganj, Etah, Marhara, Jalesar (SC), Mainpuri, Bhogaon, Kishni (SC), Karhal , Kayamganj (SC), Amritpur, Farrukhabad, Bhojpur, Chhibramau, Tirwa, Kannauj (SC), Jaswantnagar, Etawah, Bharthana (SC), Bidhuna, Dibiyapur, Auraiya (SC), Rasulabad (SC), Akbarpur-Rania, Sikandra, Bhognipur, Bilhaur (SC), Bithoor, Kalyanpur, Govindnagar, Sisamau, Aryanagar, Kidwai Nagar, Kanpur Cantonment, Maharajpur, Ghatampur (SC), Madhaugarh, Kalpi, Orai (SC), Babina, Jhansi Nagar, Mauranipur (SC), Garautha , Lalitpur, Mehrauni (SC), Hamirpur, Rath (SC), Mahoba and Charkhari assembly seats are included in the third phase.
