TIGHT SECURITY FOR POLLING IN UP
IN READINESS Preparations complete, voting will be held at Tilak Hall of Vidhan Bhawan
LUCKNOW Polling for presidential elections in UP legislature will have two striking elements – the fortress that the Vidhan Bhavan has become after the recovery of explosive PETN and the speculation that the two factions of the Samajwadi Party may vote for different candidates. “All preparations have been made for polling. Voting will be held between 10 am and 5 pm at the Tilak Hall of Vidhan Bhawan. Security and poll observers have been deployed for voting. Election will be held by secret ballot and no polling agent will be shown the ballot,” the chief electoral officer (CEO), UP, said in a press statement. Both the candidates for presidential election have been allowed only one agent each at the polling station. Former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind is the presidential candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has been fielded by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Polling for presidential elections in UP legislature will have two striking elements – the fortress that the Vidhan Bhavan has become after the recovery of explosive PETN and the speculation that the two factions of the Samajwadi Party may vote for different candidates.
A day before polling, an extensive mock drill was carried out on Sunday that included combing of the Vidhan Bhavan premises by commando contingents, sniffer dogs and surveillance equipment.
“All preparations have been made for polling. Voting will be held between 10 am and 5 pm at the Tilak Hall of Vidhan Bhawan. Security and poll observers have been deployed for voting. Election will be held by secret ballot and no polling agent will be shown the ballot,” the chief electoral officer (CEO), UP, said in a press statement.
Both the candidates for presidential election have been allowed only one agent each at the polling station. Former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind is the presidential candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has been fielded by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
The CEO said the value of a vote of UP state assembly member was 208 while that of a Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha member was 708.
Uttar Pradesh has a total of 403 MLAs. Of these, BJP and allies include 325 legislators, SP 47, BSP 19, Congress 7, RLD 1 and NISHAD 1. There are three independent MLAs.
BSP chief Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav (though he himself is not a voter as he is an MLC) are supporting Meira Kumar while the Mulayam-Shivpal faction is extending support to Kovind.
All the parties have briefed their MLAs on how to cast their votes. Most of the MLAs are already in Lucknow in view of the ongoing Budget session.
Voters will not be allowed to carry mobile phones and pens inside the polling station.
MLAs will vote in Vidhan Sabha while MPs vote in the Parliament. However, if an MP attains prior permission to vote at Vidhan Sabha instead of the Parliament, is allowed to do so.