Lok Sabha polls: Uttar Pradesh to have polling stations in high-rise apartments, gated colonies for first time

Lok Sabha elections 2024:  The Election Commission of India (ECI), for the first time, will set up polling stations for the Lok Sabha elections inside the premises of high-rises apartments and gated colonies in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said, "The state has the highest number of polling stations inside high-rise apartment complexes and gated colonies in the country. We have identified 217 such apartment complexes and gated colonies. The maximum is in Dadri (68), Noida (67), Sahibabad (37), Muradnagar (8) and seven each in Loni, Ghaziabad, and Bakshi-Ka-Talab."

Arrangements made by ECI for voters 

The CEO said, "Around 82,000 polling stations will have live webcasting facilities. Further, we have ensured that all polling stations are on the ground floor. Arrangements have been made for wheelchairs, ramps for disabled voters, toilets, sufficient light, drinking water, help desk, volunteers, and signage to facilitate voters in hassle-free polls."

"We have made attempts to set up polling stations with the idea that no voter has to travel more than 2 km to cast their vote," he added.

Polling will be held in 7 phases

34 crore people are eligible to vote in Uttar Pradesh - a politically crucial state with 80 Lok Sabha seats where elections will be held in seven phases from April 19. According to the poll schedule announced by the Election Commission on Saturday, single-phase polling will be held in 15 states and seven Union Territories, while staggered elections will be held in the rest of the 13 states and Jammu and Kashmir.

Elections will be held in seven phases in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

"At present, there are around 15.34 crore voters in Uttar Pradesh, of which 8.17 crore are males and 7.17 crore are females.

"There are 6,638 third gender voters, while there are more than 12.51 lakh divyaang voters," State Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa told media. He said there are 92,587 polling stations in the state, while there are over 1.62 lakh polling booths.

According to the election schedule, eight parliamentary constituencies in UP will vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19. These are Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit.

The seventh and final phase of polling will be held on June 1, and among the seats it will cover are Varanasi- represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi- and Gorakhpur, the pocket borough of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Voting in the second phase will take place on April 26 and it will cover eight parliamentary constituencies of Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautambuddh Nagar, Bulandshahr (SC), Aligarh and Mathura.

Ten parliamentary constituencies of Sambhal, Hathras (SC), Agra (SC), Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun, Aonla and Bareilly will go to polls in the third phase on May 7.

The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls in UP will witness voting on May 13 and will cover the 13 constituencies of Shahjahanpur (SC), Khiri, Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur and Bahraich (SC).

State capital Lucknow will go to polls on May 20, in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

The other (13) seats going to polls in the fifth phase in the state are- Mohanlalganj (SC), Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Kaisarganj and Gonda.

The sixth phase of the general elections will cover 14 seats of Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phoolpur, Allahabad, Ambedkarnagar, Shravasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj (SC), Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi. Voting in the sixth phase will be held on May 25.

Apart from Varanasi and Gorakhpur, the other parliamentary constituencies that will go to polls in the seventh phase are Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC).

The counting of votes will be held on June 4. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 62 seats and its ally Apna Dal (S) two seats, brushing aside the challenge of the SP-BSP alliance.

The Congress won the lone Rae Bareli seat of Sonia Gandhi. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was the biggest gainer in the alliance with 10 seats. Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party won five seats and the smallest partner Rashtriya Lok Dal couldn't open its account in the polls.

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