Campaigning ends for second phase of UP civic polls

Campaigning for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh civic elections on November 26 ended in 25 districts, including Varanasi from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of Lok Sabha.
State election commissioner S K Agarwal today reviewed poll preparations through video conferencing with district magistrates, district election officers, senior police officers and polling observers.
Over 52 per cent voting was recorded in the first phase on November 22 which covered 24 districts.
After the BJP formed the government in the state with absolute majority in March, this will be the first battle of ballot that will test the popularity of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Unlike other parties, the BJP is taking the civic polls seriously and besides the chief minister himself and his two deputies, senior party leaders are extensively campaigning in the state.
While the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have left the campaigning to second-rank leaders, the Congress has engaged senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar and MP Pramod Tewari to address election meetings in selected cities of the state.

Voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm amid tight security on November 26.
Besides Varanasi, the districts going to polls in the second phase are Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budhnagar, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Mainpuri , Farrukhabad, Etawah, Lalitpur, Banda, Allahabad, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia and Bhadohi.

Polling for the third and final phase covering 26 districts will take place on November 29. Counting of votes for all the three phases will be on December 1 and results will be declared the same day.