The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ensured extensive security measures and other arrangements in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming second phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

 

Voting is set to commence at 7 am and continue until 6 pm.

 

A robust deployment of over 2 lakh security personnel is planned for the second phase, with Central forces stationed at every polling booth.

 

The constituencies participating in the second phase include: Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr (SC), Aligarh, and Mathura.

 

A total of 91 candidates, including 10 women, are contesting in this phase. Gautam Buddha Nagar and Mathura have the highest number of candidates with 15 each, while Bulandshahr has the least with six candidates. Amroha has 12 candidates, Meerut has eight, Baghpat and Aligarh have seven each, and Ghaziabad has 14 candidates.

 

Approximately 16.7 million voters across 7,797 polling stations and 17,698 polling booths will determine the fate of these candidates.

 

In this phase, 23% of the candidates have criminal cases against them, while 46% are millionaires.

 

Notable contests include BSP MP Girish Chandra challenging sitting BJP MP Bhola Singh in Bulandshahr and BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali contesting for the Amroha seat.

 

Security forces have been deployed to ensure strict law and order, with over 6,800 inspectors/sub-inspectors, 39,692 constables, 28,784 home guards, and additional units of PAC and Central forces.

 

To maintain fairness, flying squads, static surveillance teams, and Quick Response Teams (QRT) will be actively monitoring the polling areas. Additionally, around 50% of polling booths will have webcasting for transparency.

 

Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa affirmed that political parties have been allocated their respective booths, and all necessary measures are in place to conduct smooth and impartial elections.