Voting underway for final phase of Uttar Pradesh local body polls

LUCKNOW: Voting for the second and final phase of urban local body elections in 38 districts in Uttar Pradesh began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security arrangements. People queued up at polling booths to cast their votes for the final phase of local body elections in the 38 districts. The first phase of voting was held on May 4.

The elections are being held for 17 seats of Mayor, 1,420 of Corporator, 199 of Nagar Palika Parishad Chairperson, 5,327 of Nagar Palika Parishad Member, 544 of Nagar Panchayat Chairperson, and 7,178 seats of Nagar Panchayat Member.

According to the State Election Commission, Kanpur Dehat, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Banda, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki, Amethi, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi, Meerut, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Bareilly, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Aligarh, Hathras, Kasganj, Etah, Kanpur Nagar, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiya.

Soon after the voting began, complaints related to a technical snag in an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) were reported from one of the polling booths in Ayodhya.

"I came to vote but the collector has informed us that there is a malfunction in the machine so we will come back after some time to vote again. Voting is our duty so we will definitely come again," a voter told ANI.

Earlier, the State Election Commission said that the elections would be held on 14,684 seats in 760 urban local bodies of the State. 52 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of the local body elections.

The first phase of polling which was held on May 4 in 37 districts registered an average 52 per cent voter turnout, which was 5.52 per cent less than the poll percentage recorded in these districts in the 2017 elections.