Voters lock fate of aspirants, wait for ULB results begins

Lucknow: The urban local body elections concluded in the state with polling for the second and final phase on Thursday in 38 districts. While the polling was peaceful, some allegations of anomalies were levelled by the opposition.
According to a complaint filed with State Election Commission by the Samajwadi Party, BJP men were engaged in sabotaging the polls by putting fake votes at booth number 24 and 25 of Gursahayeganj in Kannauj district.While Muslim voters were allegedly prevented from voting at Bholanath Dharmashala booth in Kannauj municipal council polls. BJP MLA Ajitpal Tyagi of Muradnagar alleged that anti-social elements engaged in stone-pelting when a group of people were asked to vacate polling booth area. There were also reports of an altercation between Loni MLA Nandkishore Gujjar and local BSP leader Asad Ali Mukhiya over alleged fake voting attempts. While Gita Pandit, BJP candidate for chairperson’s post of Dadri Nagar, was caught on camera purportedly forcing Muslim women to show their faces after removing burqa.
A fistfight was also reported between two corporator candidates in ward 10 of Shalimar Garden area of Ghaziabad over the allegation of fake voting. In total seven municipal corporations – Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Kanpur Nagar and Ayodhya, 83 mayoral candidates and 3,849 corporator candidates in 590 wards contested polls. A total of 6,111 polling booths in 1,798 polling stations were set up.
Similarly, for 95 chairpersons in municipalities, 969 candidates contested the polls. For a total of 2,520 members, 13,315 candidates were in the fray. A total of 31 members of nagar palika parishad have already been elected unopposed.For 267 chairperson posts in nagar panchayats, a total of 2,942 candidates contested. For 3,459 members in nagar panchayats, a total of 17,997 candidates were in fray. A total of one chairperson of nagar panchayat and 36 members have already been elected unopposed.