Second phase panchayat elections today
State election commission dispatches 23 IAS and PCS officers as observers to ensure free and fair polls in all 20 districts; over 3 crore voters to cast vote
LUCKNOW: More than three crore voters will cast their vote in 20 districts, including Lucknow and Varanasi, in the second phase of the polling for three-tier panchayat elections on Monday amid the shadow of the frightening Covid-19 pandemic.
The state election commission (SEC) has dispatched 23 IAS and PCS officers as observers to ensure free and fair polls in all the 20 districts.
“A total of 3,23,69,280 voters will exercise their franchise on 52,623 polling booths in 20 districts on Monday,” state election commissioner Manoj Kumar said. “We have made all arrangements to ensure free and fair elections with full compliance of the Covid protocol through 2,31,748 poll staff,” he claimed.
The 20 districts that will be going to poll on Monday are Muzaffar Nagar, Baghpat, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bijnor, Amroha, Badaun, Etah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, Gonda, Maharajganj, Varanasi and Azamgarh.
The polling for the third and the last phase will be held on April 26 and 29. Counting of votes is scheduled to start on May 2.