Election process for the seven-phase UP Assembly polls will be set rolling with the issue of notification for the first phase by the Election Commission on Tuesday (January 17). In the first phase, 73 Assembly seats spread across 15 districts of west UP will go to the polls.
With this, the process of filing of nomination papers would start the same day and continue till January 24. The scrutiny of papers will be held on January 25 and January 27 will be the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Polling for the first phase of elections would be held on February 11.
The polling dates of other six phases are on February, 15,19,23,27, March 4 and 8. Counting of votes for all seven phases would be taken up on March 11.
The first phase is very crucial for both the BJP and BSP, who are staking claim to form the next government in the state. Meanwhile, the ruling SP is set to go for an alliance with Congress and RlD to counter the other two.
During the campaigning, the communally sensitive west UP would be haunted by the bloody riots in Muzaffarnagar, exodus from Kairana and Bulandshahr rape cases.
During the 2012 Assembly polls, the SP and BSP won 24 seats each in these 73 seats while the BJP won 11, Congress 5 and RlD 9.
The total number of voters likely to exercise their franchise during the seven phase polls in 1,47,148 booths in 403 Assembly segment is over 14.12 crore of which, over 7.68 crore are males and 6.44 crore females and 7,272 are of the third gender.
Sahibabad Assembly segment in Ghaziabad, which will go to polls in the first phase, has the distinction of having the highest voters number of as well as polling stations in the state with 8,36,214 voters and 835 booths respectively.
The 15 districts from four divisions going to polls in the first phase are Shamli, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hatras, Kasganj, Etah, Mathura, Agra and Ferozabad.
Meanwhile, the State Election Office said in lucknow on Monday that all arrangements for the issue of notification for the first phase had been completed.
Additional Chief Electoral officer (CEO) PP Pandey said on Monday that in the first phase polling for 73 Assembly segments, there would be over 2.60 crore voters. This includes 1.42 crore males, 1.18 crore females and 1,511 third gender voters. He said that 14,514 polling booths would be set up for the first phase of poll.
Pandey said that as per EC norms, a candidate can use three vehicles in the radius of 100 metres of the office of the Returning Officer where they would file nominations and only five persons including the candidate would be allowed entry into the room where papers would be filed. For the first time, candidates would have to affix their photograph on nomination papers.
Candidates of national and regional parties would have to provide one proposer along with their nominations while an Independent will have to give 10 proposers with their nominations. The proposer should be a voter from the same Assembly segment from where nominations were being filed. A candidate can file a maximum of four sets of nomination papers.