UP Assembly polls: Over 150,000 security personnel deployed for 6th phase

Gorakhpur City, from where Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is in the fray, is among the nine sensitive assembly constituencies in the state going to polls in the sixth phase on Thursday.

Over 1.5 lakh security personnel will be deployed in this phase covering 57 assembly seats in 10 districts, where 2.1 crore people are eligible to vote, according to police.

Voting will be held at 13,930 polling stations and 25,319 polling booths under 179 police station areas, the UP police said in a statement.

Nine assembly constituencies - Gorakhpur City, Bansi, Etawah, Dumariaganj, Ballia Nagar, Phephna Bairia, Sikanderpur and Bansdih - have been kept in the sensitive category, the police said.

The Samajwadi Party has pitted the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath in Gorakhpur City. Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also a contesting against the chief minister.

The 10 districts where the elections will be held in this phase are Deoria, Basti, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharthnagar, Balrampur, Ambedkar Nagar and Ballia.

In the sixth phase, a total of 824 majras and localities have been marked as vulnerable, while 2,962 polling places have been considered as critical, it added.

The police said a total of 109 Pink Booths (women booths) have been made to specially motivate women to vote.

Nineteen women inspectors or sub-inspectors besides 259 women constables or head constables have been deployed in these booths.

All 13,930 polling stations will be covered by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the successful conduct of the polling in the sixth phase, for which 850 companies of CAPF have been received, the police said.

According to officials, a CAPF company usually has an operational strength of around 70-80 personnel.

The police said of the total strength, 797 CAPF companies will be engaged for booth duty while 44 deployed for law and order duties.

Of the total, six CAPF companies will be deployed for duty at 115 international/inter-state barrier points of UP, it added.

In the sixth phase, 6,783 inspectors and sub-inspectors of UP police, 57,550 head constables along with 17 companies of PAC, 46,236 home-guards have been deployed for election duty, the UP police said.

Further, the police said 63,899 licensed weapons have been deposited with it since the model code of conduct came into force in the 10 districts of the sixth phase.

One licensed arm was seized and 539 arms licenses have been cancelled also during the period, it said.

In view of the possibility of breach of peace during elections, preventive actions have been taken in 43,341 incidents against 3.41 lakh persons under 107/116 CrPC while "2.95 lakh persons have been bound under CrPC section 116(3)", the police said.

In these 10 districts, 722 illegal arms and 433 cartridges were recovered and four illegal arms-manufacturing factories busted in the run-up to the polls, it said.

Till now, Rs 1.70 crore cash, precious metals worth Rs 3.30 lakh have been seized while illegal liquor worth Rs 1.88 lakh crore seized, the police said.

A total of 152 cognisable offenses and 96 non-cognisable offenses have been registered for violating the code of conduct so far in the sixth phase, the police said.

Another 53 cases have been registered for violation of election-related guidelines, it added.