Polling for panchayat elections on in UP

Polling for the first phase of panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh began this morning to elect 20,022 Kshetra Panchayat members and 921 Zila Panchayat members.
Polling, currently underway in 73 districts except Gautam Buddh Nagar and Agra, will come to a close at 17.00 hrs.
In the first phase polling today, 93 lakh voters are eligible to cast ballots.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for today's voting in 218 Development Blocks across the state, official sources said.
There was no report of any untoward incident till midday, they said.
Over three lakh security personnel, including civil police, PAC, homeguard jawans and villages chowkidars have been deployed to maintain law and order.

Teams of magistrates and police officials have been deputed in all places to keep a tight vigil on the situation.

There are 13,194 candidates for post of Zila Panchyat members and 1,00,912 for Kshetra Panchayat members testing their popularity in the elections.
Meanwhile, a report from Muzaffarnagar said over 315 people displaced during the 2013 riots and rehabilitated in Palda village here will be eligible to vote.
Names of more than 315 people of those displaced from Kutba village during the riots in 2013 figure in the voters list. They are eligible to exercise their franchise during the fourth phase polling on October 29, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Gyan Prakash Tripathi told reporters.

Hundreds of people who were displaced from Kutba village have resettled in Palda village. Eight persons were killed and many injured in the violence there.
Panchayat polls in the state are scheduled to to be held in four phases - October 9, 13, 17 and 29.
In Mathura, an elderly man, who was in the fray for the panchayat polls, was killed after being hit by a motorbike at Kosikalan here, police said today.
Sixty-year-old Baburam, a resident of Barchawali village, was returning from the Mathura collectorate after he was allotted his election symbol when the accident took place earlier this week.

"He was rushed to a nearby hospital but owing to his serious condition doctors advised us to take him to Mathura. We decided to take him to Delhi but he succumbed on the way on Tuesday night," said Hukum Singh, a nephew of the deceased.