Uttar Pradesh is holding voting for the third phase of the panchayat elections. More than 3.52 lakh candidates in the fray in over 2.14 lakh seats across 20 districts of the state.

According to the State Election Commission voting is started from 7 am and will continue till evening 6 pm in Shamli, Meerut, Moradabad, Pilibhit, Kasganj, Firozabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Unnao, Amethi, Barabanki, Balrampur, Siddharthanagar, Deoria, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Ballia. For the posts of 746 members of zila panchayats, there are 10,627 candidates in the fray. For the 18,530 posts of members of kshetra panchayats, there are 89,188 candidates. For 1,80,473 village panchayat wards, there are 1,34,510 candidates contesting the polls. The candidates will contest on “free symbols” given by the SEC.

In the first phase of the polls, which was held on April 15, an average polling percentage of 71 was recorded. The second phase of polls held on April 19 also saw over 71 per cent of polling. In view of the coronavirus situation, the SEC last month said that not more than five people would be allowed to accompany a candidate during the door-to-door campaigning for the panchayat elections. Additional Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma said three-member teams are formed under the additional district magistrates to ensure that directives issued by the SEC were being followed.

Voters will mandatorily have to wear masks and maintain social distancing at polling booths. Verma said COVID-19 norms would also be followed during the counting of votes. The Allahabad High Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to conclude the panchayat election process by May 25.

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