Ghosi By-poll 2023: 9.12 pc votes polled till 9 am

Lucknow: Voting for the by-election to the Ghosi assembly seat in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh continued on a slow note as 9.12 per cent out of 4,30,394 votes were polled in the first two hours of polling till 9 am amidst tight security arrangements on Tuesday, a senior administration officer said here.

District Magistrate (DM) Arun Kumar said that the polling is being held at 455 booths set up at 239 polling centers between 7 am to 6 pm. "Counting of votes will be held on September 8," he said.

Kumar said that the assembly segment has been divided into two zones and 27 sectors. "Two zonal and 27 sector magistrates have been deployed for the peaceful conduct of the bypoll. A total of 2,002 personnel have been deployed on poll duty, which is 110 percent of the total number of booths.

"Four personnel in each polling party will complete the election work," he said.

The DM said that a total of 4,30,394 voters, including 2,31545 males and 1,98,840 females, are eligible to decide the fate of 10 candidates in the fray.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Avinash Pandey said that tight security arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair polling.

"10 companies of CAPF, along with 2 companies of RAF, 10 companies of PAC, 3 additional SPs, 5 circle officers, and 12 Station House Officers (SHOs) have been requisitioned," he said.

Pandey said that keeping in view irregularities by women voters at some places during local body polls, a large number of female police personnel have also been deployed.

"Hot spots have been identified on the basis of check posts, pickets, sensitive areas, and Dial 100, and adequate force has been deployed there," the SP said.

Though 10 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is between Dara Singh Chauhan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sudhakar Singh of the Samajwadi Party (SP).

It may be noted that the by-poll was necessitated after Dara Singh Chauhan, who was a sitting SP MLA, resigned from the membership of the assembly and the party and joined the BJP.

While several parties, including Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have extended their support to SP candidate Sudhakar Singh, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which stayed away from the by-poll, has appealed to its supporters to press the None of the Above (NOTA) button. (UNI)