Preparations in full swing for last phase of UP assembly polls

Bareilly/Moradabad, Mar 2 (ANI): Election preparations were in full swing on Friday, as polling officials geared up for the last phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh.

The seventh and final phase of the polls commences on Saturday.

In Bareilly District, election officials toiled during the day to dispatch Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) across all the voting booths.

Additional District Magistrate Rajesh Rai informed about the scale of the operations while preparing for the final phase of polls in UP.

"About 80 percent of the polling parties have received their EVMs or machineries. The rest of the machines will be acquired in the next hour or so. The administrative arrangements are up to the mark. 205 sectors have been prepared for duty. Apart from this, there are eighteen zonal magistrates. All the ROs (Returning Officers), who are either SDMs (Sub-Divisional Magistrates) or city magistrates, or are ACMs (Additional City Magistrates), will be fully responsible for their respective electoral areas," he said.

Poll preparations were also underway in Moradabad city.

"According to the information received now, about 80 to 85 percent of the EVMs have been distributed among the polling parties. They have been asked to check all their goods including the EVMs. After the sector magistrate will tell them to go off, all the parties will reach their locations by 7 to 8 pm in the evening. Most of them could even reach by 5 or 6 pm," said Vinod Zutshi, Deputy Electoral Commissioner.

Polling in the last phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will be conducted for 60 assembly seats spread in 10 districts of the state. The fate of 962 candidates, including 100 women, will be decided in this phase.

Over one crore 82 lakh people will cast their votes in this phase of polling in Bijnor, Rampur, Amroha, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur districts.

Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state and provides the biggest single bloc of seats in Indian parliament.

The assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are being viewed as an opportunity for India's major parties to re-establish or strengthen their footholds in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

Results of the polls will be declared on March 6. (ANI)