Lucknow. Voting will be held today under the seventh and final phase of elections in nine districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi. State Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said on Sunday that in the seventh phase, in 54 assembly constituencies of Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Robertsganj, Ghazipur, Mau, Azamgarh and Jaunpur districts, voting will be conducted in a free, fair and fear-free environment. All the preparations have been completed for
In Lucknow, Shukla informed that the polling in Chakia, reserved for Scheduled Castes of Chandauli district and Robertsganj general constituency of Sonbhadra district and Duddhi assembly constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes, will start from 7 am to 4 pm.
In the remaining 51 assembly constituencies, polling will continue from 7 am to 6 pm. He said that in the seventh phase, 2.06 crore voters will exercise their franchise and of these 1.09 crore are male, 97.08 lakh female and 1027 third category (transgender) voters. He said that 613 candidates are in the fray in 54 assembly constituencies out of which 75 are women candidates in this phase. Of the 54 seats in the seventh phase, 11 are reserved for scheduled castes and two for scheduled tribes.
It is noteworthy that in the preceding six phases of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, polling has been completed in 349 assembly constituencies. The first phase of polling was held on February 10 and counting of votes will take place on March 10. Shukla informed that a total of 23,614 polling places and 12,210 polling stations have been set up in the elections. The electoral fate of several ministers will be decided in this phase. These include Tourism Minister Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi South), Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur-Varanasi), Ravindra Jaiswal (Varanasi North), Girish Yadav (Jaunpur) and Ramashankar Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur).
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Apart from this, just before the assembly elections, former minister Dara Singh Chauhan (Ghosi-Mau) left the BJP and left the BJP, and this time the Subhaspa president and former minister Omprakash Rajbhar (Jahoorabad-Ghazipur), who is contesting in alliance with the SP, gangster Voting will also be held in the seventh phase on the seat of candidate-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari (Mau Sadar) and Bahubali former MP Dhananjay Singh (Malhani-Jaunpur).
Campaigning for the seventh phase of elections ended on Saturday evening. The BJP during the campaign raised issues like alleged goondaraj, mafia raj, extortion, Muzaffarnagar riots during the erstwhile SP government to end the anti-incumbency atmosphere. BJP’s opposition parties tried their best to woo voters with issues like price rise, unemployment, farmers’ agitation, violence erupted during farmers’ agitation in Lakhimpur Kheri, the death of four farmers, the problem of stray cattle, goonda raj and law and order. . Prime Minister Modi addressed the last public meeting in Varanasi as part of the election campaign.
SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav came after Karhal to address the gathering at Malhani in Jaunpur district. The party’s candidate from Malhni seat is Lucky Yadav, son of the late Parasnath Yadav, a longtime aide of Mulayam Singh. Along with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also campaigned for the SP alliance candidates in Varanasi. Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi also campaigned in favor of Congress candidates in Varanasi. During this, BSP chief Mayawati also campaigned in nearby districts including Varanasi. (agency)