Campaigning for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 58 constituencies covering 11 districts of western region came to an end at 6 pm on Tuesday evening. Polling in these constituencies is scheduled on February 10.
In most of the seats, there is a triangular contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal combine and Bahujan Samaj Party, but in some seats Congress too is also giving a fight.
The campaigning in these 58 constituencies had reached its crescendo and all parties left no stone unturned to woo the voters. The BJP and SP, who are the main contenders for grabbing power, released their respective poll manifestoes on Tuesday.
With the Election Commission of India (ECI) restricting public rallies, road shows and other common means of campaigning this time due to the pandemic, political leaders settled for virtual rallies, road shows and door to door electioneering in this phase.
In the first phase which will cover the dominant Jat belt of western UP, Dalits, minorities and other Backward Classes like Gujjar, Saini and others will decide the fate of 623 candidates in the fray, including around 25 per cent candidates who have criminal background. Besides, among the candidates around 40 per cent are crorepatis.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP had won 53 of these 58 assembly seats while the SP and BSP had won two each and the RLD one. But this time, the BJP faces a big challenge to repeat its performance of 2017 as the SP-RLD combine could make a major dent in its vote bank. The farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws and other matters related to cane farmers, law and order and development would be the main issues for all political parties in this phase.
Meanwhile, the ECI said that all preparation for smooth conduct of polling on February 10 was in place and central forces had been deployed in the sensitive areas for maintaining law and order.
UP Chief Electoral officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said in Lucknow on Tuesday that polling parties would start leaving for their respective booths from Wednesday morning. He said that Covid regulations would be enforced in all booths. The polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm and over 2,27 crore voters, including 1.04 crore women, will be voting in 25,849 polling booths.
The districts where first phase polling will be held are Shamli, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Agra and Aligarh. The assembly constituencies going to polls in this phase are Kairana, Thana Bhawan, Shamli, Budhana, Charthwal, Purqazi (SC), Muzaffarnagar Khatauli, Meerapur, Siwalkhas, Sardhana, Hastinapur (SC), Kithore, Meerut Cantonment, Meerut, Meerut South, Chhaprauli, Baraut, Baghpat, Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Modinagar, Dhaulana, Hapur (SC), Garhmukteshwar, Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, Syana, Anupshahar, Debai, Shikarpur, Khurja (SC), Kair (SC), Barauli, Atrauli, Chharra, Koil, Aligarh, Iglas (SC), Chhata, Manth, Govardhan, Mathura, Baldev (SC), Etmadpur, Agra Cantonment (SC), Agra South, Agra North, Agra Rural (SC), Fatehpur Sikri, Kheragarh, Fatehabad and Bah.