Lucknow, Feb 14: Polling started at a slow pace as 9.45 per cent of 2.02 crore electorates have cast their votes across nine districts in 55 Assembly constituencies in 2 hours on Monday. Voting since 7 am has been mostly peaceful, apart from a technical glitches.
Till 9 am, Saharanpur has cast 9.77 per cent votes, Bijnor 10.01 per cent, Moradabad 10.03 per cent, Sambhal 10.78 per cent, Rampur 8.37 er cent, Amroha 10.83 per cent, Budaun 9.14 per cent, Bareilly 8.36 per cent and Shahjahanpur 9.18 per cent. Polling will continue till 6 pm and percentage will improve as the sun comes out.
According to Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla, polling is being held at 23,404 polling booths at 12,544 polling stations in Saharanpur, Amroha, Bijnor, Rampur, Sambhal, Moradabad, Bareilly, Badaun and Shahjahanpur. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said that eight Assembly constituencies, including Nagina, Dhampur, Bijnor, Asmauli, Sambhal, Deoband, Rampur Maniharan and Gangoh, have been categorised as sensitive. The ADG said that 127 pink booths have been set up specially for women, where 42 female inspectors or sub-inspectors, 488 constables and head constables have been deployed.
Total of 586 candidates, including 69 women, are contesting in this phase. Three ministers in the Yogi government are trying their electoral luck in this phase. Suresh Khanna is contesting from Shahjahanpur, Gulabo Devi from Chandausi in Sambhal district and Baldev Singh Aulakh from Bilaspur seat in Rampur district. Prominent opposition leaders who are contesting in this phase include senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan from Rampur Sadar, former minister in the Yogi government and now SP candidate Dharmpal Singh Saini from Nakur in Saharanpur and Mehboob Ali from Amroha.
As most of the seats in this phase are dominated by Muslims and Dalits, it is considered to be a bastion of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Keeping in view the caste equations in this region, political parties have fielded candidates strategically. In view of the demography, political parties have fielded 75 Muslim candidates. While BSP has fielded maximum 25 Muslim candidates, SP-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) combine has filed 18 candidates and Congress has named 23 Muslim candidates in this phase. Asaduddin Owaisi led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which is trying hard to gain ground in politically important UP, has made the contest interesting by fielding 18 Muslim candidates.
This is also important as out of 55 seats Muslims decide victory or defeat on 25 seats and Dalits on 20 seats. Of the nine districts in the second phase, Dalit and Muslim voters are the deciding factor in Rampur, Sambhal, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Amroha and Bijnor. SP, BSP and RLD contested 2019 Lok Sabha polls in alliance and won all the seats in this region. While SP won Rampur, Moradabad and Sambhal, Saharanpur, Nagina, Bijnor and Amroha went to BSP. According to political analysts, while resentment among the farmers, especially after year long protest against the three farm laws, could increase problems for ruling BJP, SP is trying to better its performance riding on its alliance with RLD and other smaller parties having presence in this region.
