Lucknow: Polling began for 59 seats spread over nine districts in the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on a peaceful note amid tight security arrangements on Wednesday.
Voting which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm. Nine districts to be covered in this phase are Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Raebareli, Banda and Fatehpur.
After polling in western UP and Bundelkhand in the first three phases, the poll process will now pass through Awadh region before moving to Purvanchal in the fifth phase.
Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said that 2.13 crore voters, including 1.14 crore men and 99 lakh women, are eligible to decide the electoral fate of 624 candidates, including that of 91 women in the fray.
Polling will be held at 24,643 polling booths of 13,817 polling stations.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said three assembly constituencies Hussainganj, Bindki and Fatehpur have been categorised as sensitive.
"In this phase 590 hamlets and localities have been identified as vulnerable and 3,393 polling booths have been marked as critical," he said. He said 137 pink booths have been set up where 36 women inspectors or sub-inspectors and 277 constables or head constables have been deployed.
"In this phase 800.50 companies of central forces will be deployed at the polling stations," he said.
Kumar said, "From UP police 7,022 inspectors or sub-inspectors, 58,132 constables or head constables along with 21 companies of PAC; 50,490 home guards; 1,850 PRD jawans and 8,486 chowkidars have been deployed on poll duty." He said 142 cognizable and 76 non-cognizable cases of violation of the model code of conduct have been lodged so far.
"Besides, 36 cases of violation of Covid protocol have also been lodged," he said.
The ADG said as per the directives of the Election Commission all liquor vends have been closed and borders of the districts where polling will be held have been sealed from Tuesday 5 pm onwards.
All political parties including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress have campaigned extensively in the nine districts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi have held several rallies in support of their respective candidates.
In this phase along with two ministers in the Yogi government, the prestige of two Union Ministers is also at stake. Being an MP from Lucknow Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would wish to ensure the party's victory on all seats in the district.
It is being considered that the majority of the candidates in Lucknow have been picked on his consent.
All eyes will also be on Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish Mishra is the prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre in which four farmers were mowed down by a vehicle. The incident led to an outburst against BJP with the opposition demanding removal of the MoS Home from the Modi government.
"Though BJP leaders have tried very hard to negate the impact of the incident, it still poses a challenge in the Terai belt which also includes Pilibhit. After release of Ashish Mishra on bail almost all the opposition parties have tried to keep the issue alive," a political analyst said.
Among ministers in the Yogi government, Law Minister Brajesh Pathak is contesting from Lucknow Cantt and Urban Development Minister Ashutosh Tandon 'Gopalji' from Lucknow East. This time, Pathak has changed his seat and shifted to Cantt, which is considered a BJP stronghold.
Former Joint Director of Enforcement Rajeshwar Singh, who had taken VRS and is contesting from the Sarojini Nagar seat on BJP ticket, is being challenged by SP candidate and former minister Abhishek Mishra.
Besides, SP has fielded former MP Sushila Saroj from Malihabad seat in Lucknow district. Among other prominent candidates Congress' rebel MLA Aditi Singh is contesting from Rae Bareli Sadar seat on a BJP ticket.
Similarly, another rebel MLA of Congress Rakesh Singh is contesting from Harchandpur seat in Rae Bareli also on a BJP ticket. Deputy Speaker of UP Vidhan Sabha, Nitin Agarwal, who switched to BJP from SP before the polls were announced, is contesting from Hardoi.
In 2017 out of 59 seats in this phase, BJP won 50, SP four, BSP and Congress two each and Apna Dal one.
According to political analysts, the BJP is trying hard to maintain dominance in this region, but the SP and BSP are also trying hard to gain their lost ground.
Entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made the contest interesting in the urban areas in this phase. (UNI)