New Delhi: Around 50,000 paramilitary personnel belonging to 412 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed at various places to maintain law and order in western Uttar Pradesh as the campaigning for the first phase of assembly elections ends on Tuesday evening. .
Police have sealed the state’s borders and strict vigil is being maintained to maintain peace in the 58 assembly constituencies where polling will be held tomorrow.
Security officials told ANI about deployment of troops in sensitive areas, “Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh and Meerut will see maximum deployment. 75 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in Mathura alone and the total force deployed in this constituency is 21,000.”
Officials also informed that intense vigil is being maintained at the state borders of both Haryana and Rajasthan, where police officers are listing car numbers. Amid tight security, polling officials and teams in the Agricultural Produce Market Committee have started mobilizing from 7 am on Wednesday to collect all the necessary election materials.
“There will be force movement throughout and polling will be held amidst tight security. Duty cards were allotted. Liquor shops have been closed for 48 hours and will open only after polling is over,” officials said.
Further, if hoardings, banners or posters of candidates are seen within a radius of two hundred meters of the polling stations, the same shall be removed immediately. The official said that the candidates who put up banners of more than three and a half feet and 4.5 feet at the polling booths will be considered as a violation of the model code of conduct.
Earlier, the governments of all the polling states have been instructed not to misuse the official machinery.
Voting will be held in Shamli, Mathura, Agra, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Hapur, Bulandshahr and Aligarh tomorrow.
Voting will be held for 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
The term of the existing Legislative Assemblies in Uttar Pradesh will end on March 14, 2022.
first published:Feb. 9, 2022, 1:31 pm
,