Lucknow, Jan 21 :The Election Commission of India(ECI) set the election rolling for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on Friday by issuing a notification for 55 assembly segments in nine districts of Rohilkhand and western UP region.

Today is also the last date for filing of nominations for first phase of polls in 58 assembly seats in 11 districts of western UP.

State Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Ajay Kumar Shukla here today said that notification for the second phase has been issued at 1100 hours.

He said nominations in these 55 assembly seats has commenced while strictly following Covid norms and guidelines issued by the ECI.

Mr Shukla said this time, the candidates can also submit their nomination forms online. Only two persons along with the candidate will be allowed while filing nomination physically.

He said today is also the last date for filing of nominations in the first phase of polls. Till yesterday 388 candidates had filed their nominations.

The state will witness a keen tussle of ballots in the seven phase elections covering 403 assembly seats with polling being held between February 10 and March 7 and the results would be announced on March 10.

In the second phase of polling to be held on February 14, filing of nominations will commence from January 21, last date for filing of nominations is January 28, scrutiny would take place on January 29 and last date for withdrawal is January 31.

Altogether 55 assembly segments will go to polls in the second phase covering nine districts of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Sambhal, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Badaun and Shahjahanpur.

There are 2,01,42,441 voters in the second phase who will cast their votes in around 17,000 polling

booths.

In 2017 elections, BJP had won 40 seats out of these 55 assembly segments while SP won 13 and BSP won 2 seats.

The assembly seats in the second phase are Behat, Nakhur, Saharanpur City, Saharanpur, Deoband, Rampur Maniharan(R), Gangoh , Najibabad Nagina(R), Bijnore Chandpur, Noorpur, Kanth, Thakur Dwara, Muradabad Rural, Muradabad City, Kundarki ,Bilari, Chandauli(R), Asmoli, Sambhal, Swar,Chamraua, Bilaspur, Rampur, Milak(R), Navgoa Sadat, Amroha Hasanpur, Bisauli(R), Sahavasan, Bilsi(R), Badaun, Sheikhpur, Dataganj,Baheri ,Mirganj, Bhojipura, Nawabganj, Fatehpur(R), Bithari , Chainpur ,Bareilly, Bareilly Cantt, Aonla, Katra ,Jalalabad, Tilhar,Puwaya(R) Shahjahanpur and Dadraul.

Already over 120 companies of Central forces have reached UP to maintain law and order during the polls.

ECI had announced a seven phase poll this time is similar to the 2017 polls though the duration has been reduced by 5 days. In 2017, the poll dates were announced on January 4 and results were declared on March 11.

But this time, the polls were announced on January 8 and results would be declared on March 10.

The poll process had commenced from January 14, with issuance of notification for the first phase starting from western UP on January 14 where polling will be held on February10.

In the first phase of polling that is to be held on February 10, filing of nominations commenced from January 14, last date for filing of nominations is January 21, scrutiny on January 24 and last date for withdrawal is January 27.

In the third phase polling to be held on February 20, filing of nominations will commence from January 25, last date for filing of nominations is February 1, scrutiny on February 2 and last date for withdrawal is February 4.

A total of 59 assembly segments will go to polls in the third phase in 16 districts which are Kasganj, Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi and Lalitpur.

In the fourth phase polling to be held on February 23, filing of nominations will commence from January 27, last date for filing of nominations is February 3, scrutiny on February 4 and last date for withdrawal is February 7.

A total of 60 assembly segments of Awadh region will go to polls in this phase covering nine districts including Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Lucknow, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur and Banda.

In the fifth phase polling to be held on February 27, filing of nominations will commence from February 1, last date for filing of nominations is February 8, scrutiny on February 9 and last date for withdrawal is February 11.

A total of 60 assembly seats will go to polls in the fifth phase covering 11 districts of Shravasti, Bahraich, Barabanki, Gonda, Ayodhya, Amethi, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Chitrakoot and Prayagraj.

In the sixth phase polling to be held on March 3, filing of nominations will commence from February 4, last date for filing of nominations is February 11, scrutiny on February 14 and last date for withdrawal is February 14.

In the sixth phase 57 assembly elections segments will go to polls in 10 districts of Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria and Ballia.

In the seventh and final phase polling to be held on March 7, filing of nominations will commence from February10, last date for filing of nominations is February 17, scrutiny on February 18 and last date for withdrawal is February 21.

A total of 54 assembly seats will go to polls covering in 10 districts of Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Ghazipur, Chandauli and Sonbhadra.