Polling began at 7 AM today in 58 Assembly constituencies in the first of the seven-phase elections, covering 11 districts of western Uttar Pradesh.
Polling is being held in the following districts: Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Agra, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Mathura. 2.27 crore voters are expected to vote in this phase.
This phase is crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it had won 53 of these 58 seats in 2017. The victory for BJP was not only big but comprehensive. The party won 23 of the 53 seats with a victory margin of over 20 percent votes.
The SP and the RLD, which are contesting the 2022 elections in an alliance and are the principal challengers to the ruling BJP, will need to make huge gains here if they hope to unseat Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Prominent BJP candidates contesting in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022 include former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya and nine state ministers, including Suresh Rana, Shrikant Sharma, and Chaudhary Lakshmi Narain.
BJP State General Secretary Pankaj Singh, Sangeet Som, Satyaveer Tyagi, and Mriganka Singh are some other big names contesting polls in the first phase.
Nearly 50,000 paramilitary personnel from 412 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed at various locations to maintain law and order in the state during election time.
