UP Municipal Election 2023: The polling for the second and final phase of the urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh concluded as the main rivals BJP and Samajwadi Party leaders criss-crossed the poll-bound areas to gain an upper hand in the municipalities ahead of the crucial Parliamentary elections next year. According to the State Election Commission (SEC), voting took place in 38 districts including Gautam Buddha Nagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur and Ayodhya today. The voting started at 7.00 am and continued till 6.00 pm. As many as 39,146 candidates are in the fray in the second round for 6,929 posts, which include 7 mayors and 581 corporators. Apart from this, voting was held to elect 95 chairpersons and 2,520 members of nagar palika parishads, and 267 chairpersons and 3,459 members of various Nagar Panchayats. The polls are considered important as political parties will try to showcase their strength before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state, which sends the maximum 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.