Elaborate security for last phase poll in UP

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the state’s crucial sixth and last phase of polling in 18 lok Sabha constituencies spread over 14 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

Para-military forces took out flag marches on Sunday to instil confidence among voters in all the poll-bound constituencies. The Election Commission has stepped up security at the polling booths following complaints by political parties and now the booths will be manned by central forces.Special security arrangements have been made in Varanasi and Azamgarh, from where VVIPs are contesting the poll, Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said here on Sunday.This phase of election would be a challenge for the Election Commission as 19 per cent of the total 328 candidates in the fray have criminal backgrounds.

Prominent leaders whose fates would be sealed on Monday include BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister of Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party candidate Arvind Kejriwal (both in Varanasi), Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav (Azamgarh), Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur), UP Assembly Speaker and SP candidate Mata Prasad Pandey (Doomariyaganj), Minister of State for Home and Congress candidate RPN Singh (Kushinagar), Bhojpuri actor and Congress candidate Ravi Kishan (Jaunpur) and BJP MlA Kalraj Mishra (Deoria).

There are 63 candidates with criminal background in the fray, including mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari (Ghosi), DP Yadav (Ghazipur) and Dhananjay Singh (Independent).  More than 3.16 crore voters — 1.73 crore males and 1.42 crore females — will seal the fate of the candidates at 31,483 polling stations on Monday.Polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm, except  in three Assembly segments of Naxalite-affected Robertsganj  constituency where polling will end at 4 pm,” according to Sinha.The election in Poorvanchal has never seen such a hyped campaigning in the past with to Varanasi poll being dubbed as ‘mother of all contests’ where BJP’s Narendra Modi is locked in a multi-cornered contest with Arvind Kejriwal, Congress candidate Ajay Rai, Samajwadi Party’s Kailash Chaurasia and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Vijay Prakash Jaiswal.

After Varanasi, the most interesting contest on the card is that in Azamgarh where SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is facing a stiff challenge from BJP’s Ramakant Yadav and BSP’s Guddu Jamali..Minister of State for Home RPN Singh is also facing a tough battle in Kushinagar seat. He is pitted against Rajesh Pandey of BJP. In Gorakhpur, sitting BJP parliamentarian Yogi Adityanath has a clear edge though Rambhual Nishad of BSP and Rajmati Nishad of the SP are trying to put up a fight.

The constituencies going to polls in the last phase include Domariyaganj, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), lalganj (SC), Azamgarh, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr (SC), Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC).