Lucknow: Polling has begun on Wednesday for the fourth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh. Polling is currently underway in 59 Assembly constituencies spread across nine districts of Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Fatehpur, Pilibhit and Banda. As many as 624 candidates are in the fray during the fourth phase of the Assembly polls.
The state is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with the Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as the main contenders.
In the Assembly elections held in 2017, the BJP had won 51 of 59 seats. One seat was won by its ally Apna Dal(S). Four were won by the SP while two seats were won by the Congress and two by the BSP. In this phase, voting is also taking place in the state capital Lucknow which has nine Assembly seats. Of these, eight seats are with the BJP.
Polling is also being held in this phase in Lakhimpur Kheri, which has become a focal point of the farmer protest, especially after the October 3 incident in which four farmers were mowed down by an SUV owned by Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra. Ashish Mishra was recently released on bail from jail last week. The opposition has been constantly targeting the BJP over this incident and Mishra's release has further stoked the fires.
This phase is crucial for the BJP which faces the challenge of retaining its 51 seats. The party is facing resistance in the Terai region where BJP MP Varun Gandhi has been speaking up on issues against his own party. He is an MP from Pilibhit, a farmer-dominated constituency. Then the party faces hostile voters in Lakhimpur Kheri where the opposition is refusing to let the October 2021 incident fade from public memory. In Sitapur, the BJP faces rebel candidates.
For Congress, the biggest challenge of these elections comes from Rae Bareli that also goes to the polls today. Both the Congress MLA, Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh, have turned rebels and joined the BJP. Rae Bareli is the parliamentary constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the party will face major embarrassment if it fails to win Assembly seats here.
Another keenly watched seat in this phase is the Sarojini Nagar seat in Lucknow where the former Joint Director of Enforcement Directorate, Rajeshwar Singh, is pitted against Abhishek Mishra, a former IIM professor and a close aide of the former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Unnao is one of the most talked-about seats in this phase where Congress fielded the mother of a rape survivor against the BJP's sitting MLA.
The fourth phase will see 24,643 polling booths and 13,817 polling centres, with a cap imposed by the ECI on the number of voters at 1,250 at all polling booths. To oversee the electoral process, nine Police Observers, 57 General Observers, and 18 Expenditure Observers in total have been deployed by the election commission to ensure smooth polling.
Of the 59 constituencies, three have been categorised as 'sensitive' and 590 localities are labelled as 'vulnerable', according to the police. A total of 860 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been assigned for the fourth phase, who will be stationed in polling booths in the state. Additionally, 7,022 inspectors and sub-inspectors as well as 58,132 head constables and constables will be deployed alongside other forces.
Deployment of paramilitary forces has been ensured at each polling station and the responsibility of security of strong rooms of EVMs has also been given to paramilitary forces. 5595 heavy vehicles, 5773 light vehicles and 1 lakh 15 thousand 725 polling personnel have been deployed to conduct the election process.
Read: Fourth phase of UP assembly elections today: 624 candidates, 59 seats in fray
