UP Election Expected On Time

CHIEF Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra has indicated that the assembly poll for 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh is likely to be held ‘’ON Time’ as requested by all political parties. The schedule is expected to be announced in the first week of January. Briefing media in Lucknow after interactions with concerned officials and representatives of political parties on Thursday, December 30,  he said all parties were in favour of elections on time. None of them had asked for a postponement. In view of the surge of Covid-19 cases, Allahabad High Court has requested the Election Commission of India and PM Narendra Modi to postpone the elections by one or two months. Some political parties were for scaling down the number of election rallies, CEC said. The election to the 17th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held between 11 February and 8 March 2017 in 7 phases. The term of the Jogi Adityanath Government will end on May 27, 2022. The 2017 assembly election saw a voter turnout of 61.04% compared to 59.40% in the previous election. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the election by an overwhelming three-quarters majority of seats despite not projecting a chief ministerial candidate in the election. Along with UP, assembly elections are likely to be held in neighboring Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous Indian state is home to about 22 crore people adhering to several religions split into numerous castes and subcastes. There are over 15 crore voters women being in majority. The principal political parties in the fray are the ruling NDA, Samajwadi Party-led rainbow coalition, AIMIM, Congress and Bahujan Samajwadi Party. CEC Sushil Chandra said the elections will be held while following Covid-19 protocols. Women and physically challenged voters will be secured. The number of polling booths will be increased keeping in view the pandemic, he added. Edited by PK Chakravarty. Photo courtesy: HT