New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh began voting on Thursday (February 10, 2022) in the first phase of the seven-phase Assembly polls. As per the latest updates, an average of 7.93 per cent of votes were polled till 9 am in 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts in the western part of the state.
Agra recorded 7.53 per cent polling, Aligarh 8.26 per cent, Baghpat 8.93 per cent, Bulandshahr 7.51 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 8.33 per cent, Ghaziabad 7.37 per cent, Hapur 8.2 per cent, Mathura 8.30 per cent, Meerut 8.44 per cent Muzaffarnagar 7.5 per cent and Shamli 7.7 per cent.
Polling, which started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm, is going on peacefully, Election Commission officials said.
As many as 623 candidates including 73 women are in the fray in the first phase and around 2.28 crore voters including 1.24 crore men and 1.04 women besides others are eligible to cast their franchise.
One of the important constituencies that is going to the poll is Loni in the Ghaziabad district.
Key candidates fighting from Loni
Nandkishor Gurjar
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reposed its faith in Nand Kishor Gurjar and has fielded him again from the Loni constituency. In the 2017 Assembly polls, Nandkishor had won after receiving 1,13,088 votes, over 41 % of the total votes polled.
Madan Bhaiya
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which is fighting 2022 UP polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP), has given a ticket to Madan Bhaiyya. The RLD candidate had got 42,539 votes in the last Assembly elections.
Mohd Yamin Malik
Congress has decided to field Mohd Yamin Malik from the Loni seat.
Akil
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has given the ticket to Akil.
It is noteworthy that the elections for the 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly will be held in seven phases until March 7 and the votes will be counted on March 10.
