Voting underway in UP municipal polls, will continue till 6 pm

GORAKHPUR: Voting for the first phase of urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security arrangements.

Voting, which commenced at 7 am, will continue till 6 pm, Gorakhpur District Magistrate said.

Gorakhpur DM Krishna Karunesh said, "Polling has begun for the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation from 7 am and it will continue till 6 pm. More than 5,500 police personnel have been deployed. The polling is through EVM in urban areas and in rural areas the voting is through ballot."

"In Gorakhpur, there are 335 polling stations in which we have made assured facilities like drinking water, toilets etc. We expect that people will cast their vote in large numbers," he added.

"We urge voters to come out of their houses to cast their votes," Gorakhpur DM said.

Moreover, Gaurav Grover, Gorakhpur Senior Superintendent Of Police (SSP) said, "Voting in Gorakhpur is underway at every polling booth. Police patrolling is underway. We are getting help from Border Security Force (BSF). Under the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras we are keeping an eye. We request each and every voter to cast their vote."

According to official figures, in the UP urban body elections, two crore forty lakh voters will use their right to vote to choose/elect 10 mayors, 820 councillors, 103 municipal council presidents, 2,740 member municipal councils, 275 presidents including 3,645 municipal council members in the 37 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

In the first phase, voting will be held in 37 districts of 9 divisions and 10 municipal corporations.

In 10 municipal corporations, voting will be held in 830 wards, 9,699 polling places and 2,658 polling stations are set up in Municipal Corporations

The first phase of voting will be held in 37 districts Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Mainpuri, Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Gonda, Bahraich, Balrampur, Shravasti, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli and Jaunpur of 9 divisions of Uttar Pradesh i.e. Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Devipatan, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.

In 10 municipal corporations, voting will be held in 830 wards, 9699 polling places and 2658 polling stations are set up in Municipal Corporations.

There are 63,03,542 male and 53,62,151 female voters in Municipal Corporation.

The polling for the second phase will take place on May 11 to elect representatives for the posts across 760 local bodies in the state. The counting of votes will take place on May 13.