The biennial election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Saturday recorded more than 90 per cent turnout by 2pm, officials said. Voting begins at 8 a.m. in 26 constituencies of the local authority constituency.
According to the Election Commission of India, the state recorded an average turnout of 90.42 per cent till 2 pm, with the lowest turnout of 84 per cent in Barabanki and the highest turnout of 94.67 per cent in Gazipur. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was among those who rose early to exercise their voting right, said that “four decades later, a situation has arisen when a ruling party (BJP) will be able to get a huge mandate in the Legislative Assembly as well”. .
According to the Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh, 95 candidates are contesting and voting is taking place in 739 centers. About 1,20,657 voters are expected to exercise their voting right in this election. In a tweet in Hindi, Adityanath, who voted at the Gorakhpur-Maharajganj constituency, said, “For the formation of a new Uttar Pradesh and for the victory of good governance, (I) have done my duty by voting in the biennial elections. Earlier, in another tweet, he called on the people to vote for the victory of development, nationalism and good governance and said, “One of your votes will give impetus to the journey towards construction.” Self-reliant Uttar Pradesh “.
“In the recent assembly elections, the BJP (like in 2017) has won more than two-thirds of the seats and formed a strong government. Four decades later, the ruling party will be able to get a huge mandate in the Legislative Assembly as well, ”Adityanath told reporters in Gorakhpur. “In 2017, the (BJP) government faced challenges, such as the SP (SP) playing a negative role and obstructing development and welfare programs. But, I hope in this election we will get a huge mandate in the legislature and development and welfare programs will move forward with speed, ”he said.
Union Minister Smriti Irani has voted in Amethi, from where he is a Lok Sabha MP. Voting is taking place in local authority constituencies – Moradabad-Bijnor, Rampur-Bareilly, Pilivit-Shahjahanpur, Sitapur, Lucknow-Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Barabanki, Bahraich, Gonda, Faizabad, Bastinagar-Sidrag Balia, Gazipur, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Jhansi-Jalaun-Lalitpur, Kanpur-Fatehpur, Etawah-Farrukhabad, Agra-Firozabad, Mirat-Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur. These seats are spread across 58 districts of the state, and voting will end at 4 p.m. Nine MLCs have been elected unopposed from eight local body constituencies – Budaun, Hardoi, Kheri, Mirzapur-Sonbhadra, Banda-Hamirpur, Aligarh, Bulandshahr and Mathura-Ita-Mainpuri.
Two MLCs have been elected unopposed from the Mathura-Itah-Mainpuri local body constituency, while one MLC has been elected unopposed from the rest of the constituencies. After a resounding victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP is the single largest party in the state assembly and has won a majority of 36 upper house seats. In both houses of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the saffron party has the opportunity to enjoy a majority. In the 100-member Legislative Assembly, the BJP currently has 34 MLCs, 17 SPs and four Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) members. The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Dal each have MPs. The teacher group has two MLCs, where the individual groups – the non-partisans – and the individual groups each have one MLC. At present 36 seats are vacant.
Voters in this biennial election are village heads, members and chairmen of block development councils, members and chairmen of district panchayats and urban corporators. MLAs and MPs are also voters in this election. The Congress and the BSP did not field any candidates in the Assembly elections, it was a direct battle between the main opposition BJP and the SP in the state assembly. Of the 36 BJP candidates, five are former SP leaders who joined the saffron camp ahead of the February-March state elections.
They are Shailendra Pratap Singh of Sultanpur local authority, CP Chanda of Gorakhpur-Maharajganj local authority, Ravi Shankar Singh ‘Pappu’, grandson of former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar of Balia local authority, Rama Niranjan from Jhansi-Jalaun-Lalitpur local authority. And Narendra Bhati from Bulandshahr local authority.
The SP has announced its candidate for 34 seats, leaving Meerut-Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr seats for its ally Lok Dal. Prominent among those who have been nominated are Dr Kafil Khan from Deoria, Mashkur Ahmed from Rampur-Bareilly, Lucknow-Unnao, Barabanki and sitting MLCs from Mathura-Ita-Mainpuri, Sunil Kumar Sajan, Rajesh Kumar and Udaybir Singh respectively. Adityanath was recently elected as MLA from Gorakhpur Urban constituency and left his seat in the Legislative Assembly.
Following the death of Ahmed Hassan, Leader of the Opposition in the Council on 19 February, after a long illness, SP Sanjay Lather was nominated for the post. In the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP won 255 of the 403 seats in the Assembly, while its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Dal won 12 and six seats respectively. The SP won 111 seats, while its ally the state Lok Dal won eight seats. Another ally of the Samajwadi Party, SBSP, won six seats. The Congress has won two seats, while the BSP has won one seat.
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