First phase of urban local body elections begins

On Thursday, the first phase of urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh began. The voting, which began at 7 a.m., will continue until 6 p.m., according to officials. According to the State Election Commission (SEC), voters in 37 districts will exercise their right to elect 7,593 members, including 10 mayors and 820 corporators, in the first phase of the election. These polls will be a litmus test for the parties as they prepare for the Lok Sabha elections next year. According to officials, more than 2.40 crore individuals are eligible to vote in the first phase, and all positions are being fought on party insignia.

In the first phase, voting will take place for 103 nagar palika parishad chairman positions and 2,740 nagar palika parishad members. Furthermore, voters will decide the fates of 275 candidates running for nagar panchayat chairperson and 3,645 nagar panchayat members. In the first round, 44,232 candidates are competing. According to SEC authorities, 85 delegates, including 10 corporators, were elected unopposed. Saharanpur, Agra, Moradabad, Firozabad, Mathura, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Varanasi are the districts where mayoral elections will be held in the first phase.

For the smooth conduct of the elections, police have deployed 19,880 inspectors and sub-inspectors, 1,01,477 head constables and constables, 47,985 home guards, 86 companies of Pradeshik Armed Constabulary, 35 companies of Central Armed Police Forces, and 7,500 under-training sub-inspectors. The second and final phase of the municipal elections will be held on May 11. The vote counting for both stages will take place on May 13.