Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls dates announced. All you need to know

The Uttar Pradesh election commission on Friday announced the dates for the upcoming three-tier panchayat polls in the state. At a press conference in the morning, state election commissioner Manoj Kumar said that the elections for 58,189 village panchayats will take place in four phases beginning from April 15 and concluding on April 29 with counting of votes scheduled for May 2.

The commission, according to an official, had earlier planned to announce the dates of the polls on March 27.

Here’s all you need to know about the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls:

The voting for panchayat polls that will begin from April 15 will take place in Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Rampur, Bareilly, Hathras, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi, Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti, Santakbir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Bhadohi districts of the state, as reported by Live Hindustan.

The second phase of voting scheduled for April 19 for the polls will be conducted in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bijnor, Amroha, Badaun, Etah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Etawah, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, Gonda, Maharajganj, Varanasi and Azamgarh, reported Live Hindustan.

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The third phase of voting will take place on April 26. In this phase, the voters of Shamli, Meerut, Moradabad, Pilibhit, Kasganj, Firozabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Ballia will exercise their franchise, said Live Hindustan.

Finally, the voting process for the panchayat elections in the state will end on April 29 with the last phase conducted in Bulandshahar, Hapur, Sambhal, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Farrukhabad, Banda, Kaushambi, Sitapur, Ambedkaranagar, Bahraich, Basti, Kushinagar, Ghazipur, Sonbhadra and Mau districts, reported Live Hindustan.

Counting of votes is scheduled for May 2. The Allahabad high court has recently asked the state government to complete the electoral process before May 25.

On Monday, the state election commission had issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the upcoming polls amid the surge in the cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The commission issued orders to district magistrates/district election officers for ensuring compliance with Covid-19 safety measures. The guidelines issued are with regard to wearing of masks, adhering to social distancing, thermal scanning, sanitisation of polling booths, polling staff, polling booth, candidates and voters.

People positive with the disease can also practise their right at the end of the process in the presence of the presiding officer wearing a PPE kit.