The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure free and fair polls in the inaugural phase of polling in the 8 Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday.
The first phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held on eight seats from 7 am to 6 pm. Over 2 lakh security personnel will be deployed in the first phase of polls. Every booth would be manned by personnel from the Central forces.
The 8 seats where polling would be held in the first phase include Saharanpur, Bijnor, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Nagina, Moradabad, Rampur, and Pilibhit.
Altogether 80 candidates, including 7 women, are in the fray in the first phase polls. The fate of prominent figures like Union Minister of State Sanjeev Balyan, PWD Minister in the Yogi government Jitin Prasad, BJP MP from Kairana Pradeep Choudhary, RLD MLA from Meerapur Chandan Chauhan, who is contesting the Bijnor seat in alliance with the NDA, and Nehtaur MLA Om Kumar, BJP’s Nagina candidate, will be determined in the inaugural phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
State DGP Prashant Kumar said on Thursday that security forces have been deployed at their designated booths and other locations to maintain law and order.
According to sources, 6,018 inspectors/sub-inspectors, 35,760 constables, 24,992 Home Guards, 70 companies of PAC and 220 companies of Central forces will be deployed in the first phase of polls.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said that polling parties were despatched to their respective booths on Thursday morning.
He said that 1,824 flying squads and 1,478 static surveillance teams would be pressed into service in the polling areas to ensure free and fair polls.
The CEO said altogether 1.43 crore voters, including 76.23 lakh men, 67.14 lakh women, and 824 from the third gender, would exercise their mandate in the first phase polls.
In the first phase, there are a total of 7,693 polling stations and 14,842 polling booths.