Electoral fate of 1,288 candidates, including 125 women, for the 80 lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will be decided on Friday.
The Election Commission is geared up for counting of votes from 8am amid tight security. Also counting of votes for four assembly by-elections— Fatehpur, Unnao, Rampur Khas and Vishwnathganj seats would also be taken up.
Fate of one Chief Minister, four ex-chief ministers, presidents of two major national parties, one state party along with other VVIP candidates would be decided. Around 1,91,421 Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) have been
deployed for the counting process. Prominent among those whose electoral fate would be decided in the state on Friday are BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi( Rae Bareli), Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal (Varanasi), SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav( Mainpuri and Azamgarh), BJP president Rajnath Singh (lucknow), AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, BJP leader and television actor Smriti Irani( Amethi),RlD president and union minister Ajit
Singh (Bagpat), Former Army Chief V K Singh and film star turned politician, Raj Babbar( Ghaziabad),Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh (Baghpat), Bollywood dreamgirl Hema Malini(Mathura), chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple (Kannauj) and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharati(Jhansi).
The state government has already sounded high alert in view of the sensitivity and has cautioned the districts for the fateful day. Victory processions by the winning candidates have been banned. However, on Saturday, the welcome procession of senior leaders has been permitted by the state government. Around 250 companies of Central forces, which were sent to the state for polling, have been deployed in the State till May 18, in view of the apprehension of post poll results.
Election Commission(EC) on Thursday also claimed that the entire counting process will be conducted under strict monitoring by the Central observers and security of the Central forces. There would be a three-tier security system at the counting centers and no one would be allowed entry without valid passes. Strict security measures would be in place with central forces in the counting centers, PAC in the outer circle and local police at the entrance of the centers. The EC has appointed 112 central observers and 10 special observers for the purpose in the state. Mobile phones have been banned inside the counting halls while one central micro observer would be deployed in each of the counting tables.
The state government has issued strict orders to ban victory procession and maintain law and order till next fortnight in view of the results. ‘’Victory procession is banned by the Election Commission and it should be enforced strictly,’’ state chief secretary Javed Usmani said to all the district magistrates(DMs) and Superintendents of Police(SPs) of 75 districts of the state. The Chief Secretary said the Central Para- Military Forces(CPMF) would be deployed in the state till May 18 without any hindrance while the PAC would be deployed till further orders. ‘’All the districts should maintained strict law and order after the results are being declared and should take the
assistance of the CPMF and other forces deployed in their respective districts,’’Usmani said. He said special security should also be provided to the VVIP politicians, candidates and the districts should maintain proper guidelines of the EC. Presently, around over 23 companies of CPMF are deployed in the state to guard the Electronic Voting Machines(EVMs) stored in the
strong rooms at 76 counting centres in the state.
In the six-phase election, which was by and large peaceful, the voters’ turnout in the state was around 58.24 per cent, which was 11 per cent more than the 2009 elections. The first result from the state is expected to come from Baghpat and Kanpur seats followed by Kairana, Muzaffarnagar and Nagina, where the polling booths are lesser than the other constituencies. The results of Baghpat and Kanpur constituencies from where Union Civil Aviation Minister and Rashtriya lok Dal President Ajit Singh and Union Coal minister Shreeprakash Jaiswal are
contesting would be declared first. However, results of the constituencies namely Ghaziabad, Shahjahanpur, Unnao, Jalaun and Sant Kabirnagar seats could
be declared at the end as there are highest number of booths. The result of the VVIP Varanasi seat, from where BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting could be delayed.
State Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Umesh Sinha said here on Thursday evening that there would be 76 counting centers in 75 districts and the trends would start pouring in immediately. The counting personnel will first take up the postal ballots and then the EVMs. The first result is expected by 12 noon while the results of all 80 seats would be announced by late afternoon after prior
approval from the EC. Baghpat lok Sabha seat has the lowest number of 1,456 polling booths followed by Kanpur seat, which has just 1,490 booths. Ghaziabad seat has the highest number of 2,237 booths followed by Shahjahanpur with 2,234 booths,the Unnao seat with 2,197 booths, Jaulan with 2,193 booths and Sant Kabirnagar seat which has 2,083 booths. ‘’There would be 14 tables in each counting centre and the actual rounds of counting would be decided on the basis of number of booths and will take around six hours to complete the counting process in each of the seats,’’Sinha said. In the Amethi lok Sabha seat, there would be two counting centers in the district while in the remaining 75 counting
centers will be there. This time, the EC has directed the district returning officer to declare the trends after every round of counting. Each round would take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. EC would also go for web casting of live proceedings of counting of votes in the state.