Campaigning ends for 2nd phase, polling for 8 seats in UP tomorrow

AGRA: Campaigning for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh ended Tuesday evening, 48 hours before voting on April 18. Elections will be held on eight Uttar Pradesh seats on April 18 — Nagina (SC), Amroha, Bulandshahr (SC), Aligarh, Hathras (SC), Mathura, Agra (SC) and Fatehpur Sikri.
Poll candidates of major political parties vigorously campaigned, making the last-minute pitch to voters.On the other hand, district administration and police made final preparations for conducting fair and transparent election.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath followed the Election Commission’s order, keeping away from the meetings he was scheduled to address in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. Similarly, BSP chief Mayawati did not address the joint opposition alliance rally in Agra. Her nephew, Akash Anand, delivered his first political speech there, watched by SP president Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and BSP’s S C Mishra.
Among the candidates in the fray in UP in the second phase are actors-turned-politicians — BJP's Hema Malini is contesting from Mathura and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar has been fielded in Fatehpur Sikri. UP cabinet minister SP Baghel (BJP) is contesting for the Agra (SC) seat. Kunwar Danish Ali, who till recently was general secretary of the Janata Dal-Secular, is contesting on a BSP ticket from Amroha against BJP's Kanwar Singh Tanwar.
There are 85 candidates in the fray in Thursday's polling — Nagina (7), Amroha (10), Bulandshahr (9), Aligarh (14), Hathras (8), Mathura (13), Agra (9) and Fatehpur Sikri (15).
According to the Election Commission, 1,40,76,635 people are registered to vote at 16,162 booths in 8,751 polling centres spread across these constituencies
Meanwhile in Agra, around 45,000 government employees have been assigned duties to conduct election in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri seats in the district.
According to Agra district election office records, there are 3,778 polling booths in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha constituencies. On both the seats, around 33.54 lakh people are eligible to vote. Out of these, 14.5 lakh are women.
District magistrate of Agra NG Ravi Kumar said, “The election campaigning time is over. Now, no candidate will be allowed to organize public meetings or rallies. On Wednesday, polling parties will gather at Mandi Samitti. They will be sent to the polling centese by evening to conduct elections the next day. Paramilitary forces has taken charge. Foolproof security arrangements have been made by police for polling day. To leave no scope for any sort of disturbance or malpractice, arrangements are being made for installation of secret cameras at polling centres to check any suspicious activity.” (With inputs from PTI)