Meerut District Magistrate in Uttar Pradesh phase 1 polling on Thursday said that some complaints from a few polling booths have been registered, "Complaints of EVM malfunction from few polling stations were addressed immediately & polling resumed. Police, paramilitary forces were deployed at all polling stations. To attract more voters, we've established Pink polling booths for women and selfie points at polling centres" he said.
Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections will be held in 7 phases. Voting for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections began on Thursday at 7:00 am. Covering the Jat-dominant belt of western Uttar Pradesh, the first phase of polls covers 58 assembly constituencies across 11 districts of the state.
These districts include Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar, Aligarh, Agra, Gautam Buddha Nagar, and Mathura. The voting, which will conclude at 6:00 pm today, is taking place at 25,849 polling stations and 10,766 polling centres.
As many as 623 candidates are in the fray on 58 assembly seats where polls are being held today. As per the set norms, the campaigning for the first phase of the UP polls ended on Tuesday (February 8) at 6 pm, marking the start of a 48-hour-long silence period.
The main battle in this election will be between BJP and Samajwadi Party. Other political parties, including the BSP and the Congress, are also expected to be in a strong position in some seats. On the backdrop of voting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted urging voters to cast their votes.