Lok Sabha elections 2024: First day of western Uttar Pradesh polls goes smooth

The first phase of elections for eight constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh was held on Friday with around 57 54 per cent voting till 5 pm Most voters had a peaceful experience with the Uttar Pradesh police claiming that the law and order situation was maintained in all eight constituenciesD K Thakur additional directional general of police Meerut Division said a large amount of security and police personnel were deployed to ensure the voting process was peaceful and smooth ldquoWe had extra force for checking along all borders and to keep antisocial elements away from polling stations No issues were reportedrdquo he saidAs per the Election Commission a total of around 80 candidates were contesting from the eight Lok Sabha constituencies in the first phase of elections The total number of voters is 14401543 of which 7654658 are men 6746136 are women and 749 are of the third gender There are around 14845 polling booths and 7693 polling centres in the first phase of elections with around 18662 EVM control units 18734 ballot units and 19603 VVPATs Around 50 per cent of polling stations had arrangements for live webcasting via CvigilIn terms of the number of voters in the first phase the highest number are in Moradabad and the lowest in Nagina Lok Sabha constituenciesChief Election Officer of Uttar Pradesh Navdeep Rinwa said that in order to keep the voting process free and fair webcasting was arranged at a total of 7582 polling stations for effective supervision at all three levelshellipby the District Election Officer Chief Election Officer and Election Commission of India Arrangements for videography were also made at 1510 polling stationsIn the first phase of postal ballot voting 14264 voters in the eligible categories viz voters above 85 years of age Divyang essential services and polling personnel cast their postal ballots Voters above 85 years of age and Divyang voters who had opted for postal ballot were made to vote by the polling team visiting their homes To make the process free fair and transparent a micro observer and videographer were deployed with the polling party and the schedule of the polling party was made available to the candidates to watch the entire process The list of eligible voters in this category was also made available to the candidates Complete videography of this polling process has been donePostal ballots were also sent to a total of 27938 service voters by the Returning Officer through electronic means ETPBS EDC has been issued to 7943 personnel To keep a close watch on the polling the Commission also deployed eight general observers five police observers and 10 expenditure observers Additionally 1272 sector magistrates 150 zonal magistrates 103 static magistrates and 1861 micro observers were deployed The Election Commission of India had also deployed one senior general observer one senior police observer and one senior expenditure observer at the state level who supervised the entire election process by staying in the fieldMeanwhile some complaints were received through email by political parties on Friday which were promptly resolved by the district officials after which the complainants were informed via emailDuring the voting process till 500 pm a total of 50 BUs 50 CUs and 152 VVPATs were replaced144crNo of voters in eight constituencies