Election Commission of India announces Assembly Polls in Lucknow on February 23

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced that Assembly Polls 2022 will be conducted in 7 distinct phases, across Uttar Pradesh. The date of polling begins as early as February 10 and will stretch up to March 7, following which the results will be announced on March 10.

According to this schedule, Lucknow will vote for its new government in the fourth phase of polling, held on February 23. Besides the state capital, the districts of Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur and Banda will also cast their vote on February 23.

Phased polling for transparent elections

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There are around 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, the polling for which will be conducted in 7 phases. People across the state have the chance to cast their votes on:

• February 10 (Phase 1) in Shamli, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut Hapur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Mathura, Agra and Aligarh.
• February 14 (Phase 2) in Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Sambhal, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun and Shahjahanpur.
• February 20 (Phase 3) in Kasganj, Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur.
• February 23 (Phase 4) in Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Lucknow, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur and Banda.
• February 27 (Phase 5) in Shravasti, Bahraich, Barabanki, Gonda, Ayodhya, Amethi, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Chitrakoot and Prayagraj.
• March 3 (Phase 6) in Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria and Ballia.
• March 7 (Phase7) in Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Ghazipur, Chandauli and Sonbhadra.

The segmented format will ensure the delegation of proper staff at each polling station, for transparent polls, across the state. It may be noted here that apart from UP, Assembly Polls will also be conducted in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur during the same time frame.

COVID-19 safety checked:

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A total of 18,34 crore electors are expected to vote in the upcoming Assembly polls across the five states. As such, for this election to matter, the safety of each and every voter is essential. The ECI is taking multiple steps to ensure health-secure polling and extensive preparations are underway for the same.

COVID-19 mitigation facilities will be set up at all polling stations. This will include the availability of sanitisers and masks for all. Reportedly, it will be made sure that all staff and personnel deployed on election duty are doubly vaccinated and are further eligible for the third booster shot. In UP, arrangements have been made to increase the polling duration by 1 hour to allow staggering of crowds in wake of the pandemic.

An alternative facility of the postal vote, i.e vote from home has also been extended to senior citizens above 80 years of age, differently-abled voters and voters affected by COVID-19, added reports. Besides other arrangements for webcasting have also been made, across all 800 polling stations, to ensure safe and transparent polls in UP.