The Election Commission of India has made elaborate security arrangements for the by-election to two Assembly seats - Bilari (Moradabad) and Jangipur (Ghazipur) on Monday.
A lacklustre campaigning for the bypolls ended on Saturday evening which is the last such poll in the state ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections.
The BSP, a strong contender for the 2017 Assembly polls, is however not in the fray in both seats which were necessitated due to the death of the members of ruling Samajwadi Party.
Jangipur seat in Ghazipur district fell vacant following the death of sitting MlA and cabinet minister Kailash Yadav in February, while Bilari fell vacant after SP legislator Haji Irfan died in a road mishap in March.
State’s Chief Electoral Officer said that polling will be held between 7 am to 4 pm with security forces deployed at all booths. Besides videography and other preventive measures would be in place to prevent irregularity during polling.
In order to ensure free and fair polls, the authorities have deployed five companies each of the Central forces and PAC along with around 3000 police and home guard personnel during the polling in Bilari seat. Counting of votes for both seats would be held on May 19.
Meanwhile, Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission against the Samajwadi Party alleging that several cabinet ministers and more than 100 MlAs had been camping in Bilari and pressuring voters and local administration to swing the polls in its favour.
Candidates of both the Congress and the BJP have demanded deployment of para-military forces at booths during voting to ensure free and fair polling.