Elaborate security in place for third phase of UP polls tomorrow

Lucknow: Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the crucial third phase Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh tomorrow when central parts of the state of Yadav heartland and Awadh region will witness a keen tussle of the ballots. Two major towns of the state --Lucknow and Kanpur-- will go to the polls in this phase. A total of 2.41-crore electorate are expected to exercise their franchise in the third phase of polling, of which 1.31-crore are male, 1.10 crore female and 1,026 are third gender.

There would be 25,603 polling booths in this phase. The polling will start at 0700 hrs and end at 1700 hrs. Around 2 lakh security personnel, including a strong 819 companies of Central forces, have been deployed for polls in 69 seats of 12 districts. The Central forces have reached their respective areas and were holding flag marches to instill confidence among the voters. The borders of the poll-bound districts have been sealed off to prevent anti-social elements from creating problem, officials said.

In the third phase, there would be 5,500 police sub-inspectors, 3,500 head constables and over 52,000 constables along with 60,000 homeguards in duty. State Electoral Officer (CEO) T Venkentesh said here today that all preparations for polls have been completed with the polling personnel proceeding towards their respective booths. There are 821 candidates in the fray of which around 14 per cent have criminal cases and 31 per cent are crorepatis (multi-millionaires). The highest number of 21 candidates are from Etawah seat, while the lowest of three candidates are from Haidergarh seat in Barabanki district.

This phase will be a litmus test for the SP and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as it would face Mulayam factor in the home districts of the Yadav family. The highest number of VVIP seats in UP polls is being witnessed in the third phase when 11 ministers of the Akhilesh Yadav government are contesting. Almost all the nine seats in Lucknow are witnessing a crucial fight with close relatives of the Chief Minister contesting in two seats. All eyes would be on Jaswantnagar seat in Etawah where Shivpal Singh Yadav, uncle of Akhilesh Yadav, is contesting for the fifth time to enter the Assembly. Similarly, in Lucknow(Cantonment) Aparna Yadav, sister-in-law of the CM and Anurag Yadav, cousin of Akhilesh Yadav from Sarojninagar seat in Lucknow were in the contest.

Anurag is pitted against BJP's Swati Singh, who had jumped in politics after her husband Dayashanker Singh made an objectionable statement against Mayawati. Similarly, Aparna is contesting against seasoned politician Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the BJP. In Zaidpur seat in Barabanki, Tanuj Punia, son of Congress Rajya Sabha member P L Punia is trying his electoral luck for the first time. Besides, there are several seats in Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur, Barabanki and Hardoi where UP ministers and senior leaders of other parties are in the fray.

The UP ministers in the fray are Narendra Verma from Mahumudabad and Rampal Rajvanshi from Mishrikh, both in Sitapur district, Abhishek Mishra (Lucknow North), Ravidas Mehrotra (Lucknow central), Nitin Agarwal ( Hardoi), Sudhir Kumar Rawat from Saifipur in Unnao, Arvind Singh Gope from Ramnagar, Rajiv Singh from Dariyabad and Farid Mahfooj Kidwai from Kursi, all in Barabanki, Aruna Kumari Kori from Rasulabad in Kanpur Dehat and Vijay Bahdur Pal from Tirwa in Kannauj district. ( UNI)