UP Municipal Election 2023: Polling Ends in 38 Districts; Nearly 50 % Voter Turnout Recorded

UP Municipal Election 2023 Updates: The polling for the second and final phase of urban local body polls in 38 districts of Uttar Pradesh ended on Thursday. Over 1.92 crore registered voters are set to decide the fate of 39,146 poll aspirants in districts including Meerut, Ghaziabad, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur and Ayodhya.

The first phase of voting was held on May 4. The counting of votes for both phases is scheduled for Saturday.

The polls hold significance as all major political parties, including the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),  are trying to showcase their strength before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

UP ULB Phase 2 Latest Updates:

▶30.80 per cent voter turnout was recorded in 38 districts till 1 pm.

▶20.62 per cent voter turnout was recorded in 38 districts till 11 am.

▶Samajwadi Party accused the ruling party of indulging in fake voting in the Gursahaiganj polling booth of Kannauj, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

▶Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in a tweet said, “Today is the last phase of polling for the Uttar Pradesh Municipal elections-2023. All respected voters are appealed to participate in this festival of democracy to form a triple-engine government. Do vote. Your valuable vote will make your municipal corporation more empowered.”

▶“The way people are enthusiastically voting for the development of Aligarh, it seems that BJP will at least secure over 1 lakh votes,” said saffron party MP Satish Gautam after casting his vote at a polling booth in Aligarh.

▶Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm on Thursday. “All electors who join the queue within the specified time will be allowed to vote,” state election commissioner (SEC) Manoj Kumar said on Wednesday.

▶Voting is been held for 7,006 posts in 370 ULBs, which include seven Nagar Nigams, 95 Nagar Palika Parishads and 268 Nagar Panchayats.

▶According to the State Election Commission (SEC), over 1.92 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in the second phase to decide the fate of as many as 39,146 candidates, who are in the fray for 6,929 posts.

▶Seven municipal corporations (nagar nigams)—Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Kanpur Nagar and Ayodhya—will be electing their mayors and 581 corporators.

▶Repolling is also being held at ward number 3 of Chakia Nagar Panchayat of Chandauli district where polling could be held due to a technical snag in the first phase.

▶Shahjahanpur will vote to elect its first mayor today. Meerut and Aligarh had BSP mayors in 2017 while the BJP ruled the rest.

▶According to district president of the BJP in Shahjahanpur KC Mishra, ministers Jitin Prasada and Suresh Khanna will cast their votes in Shahjahanpur.

▶Another minister in the UP government, JPS Rathore, will also cast his vote in Shahjahanpur.

▶Apart from this, voting will be held to elect 95 chairpersons and 2,520 members of nagar palika parishads, and 267 chairpersons and 3,459 members of various nagar panchayats.

▶The SEC said 77 representatives, including nine corporators in this round, have been elected unopposed.

▶Campaigning for the final phase ended on Tuesday evening with BJP and Samajwadi Party leaders cris-crossing the poll-bound areas.

▶UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, both the Deputy Chief Ministers, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, Union Minister Smriti Irani, UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary among other senior BJP leaders campaigned for the party candidates.

▶From the opposition camp, Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav and Shivpal Yadav extended a helping hand to SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who had been campaigning for the party nominees.

▶According to the final list of reserved seats, the mayor seat in Agra has been reserved for SC (female), Jhansi for SC, Shahjahanpur and Firozabad for OBC (female), Saharanpur and Meerut for OBC, and Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad have been reserved for women.