Stage set for Lok Sabha elections in Ghaziabad, Noida today; 5.6 mn to vote

Gautam Buddh Nagar is set for the Lok Sabha election on Friday and around 20,000 personnel will be on polling duty to facilitate the process for more than 26.75 lakh registered voters in the constituency, according to officials.

"Of the personnel on poll duty, around 11,000 are from the security, including police, paramilitary, civil force, and homeguards, while about 9,000 are administrative staff and officers who will be deployed at voting booths and stations," District Election Officer Manish Kumar Verma told PTI.

There are 1,852 booths in the constituency and live web casting will be done on 931 of them, while the remaining will have provisions for either CCTV or videography. The constituency has 164 vulnerable booths and 165 critical booths, he said.

"Micro observers will be stationed at vulnerable and critical booths," Verma said. He added that all booths will have at least four polling officials and paramilitary personnel will be deployed.

He said 20 per cent extra EVMs are available in the constituency to replace any EVM that does not function properly.

Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency is spread across assembly segments of Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Khurja and Sikandrabad. Of these, Sikandrabad and Khujra geographically fall in the adjoining Bulandshahr district but are part of Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency.

Gautam Buddh Nagar has 26,75,148 voters across the five assembly segments, including 14,50,795 male, 12,22,234 female and 119 third-gender voters.

Assembly area-wise, there are 7,82,872 voters in Noida, 7,29,481 in Dadri, 3,69,824 in Jewar, 3,99,091 in Khurja and 3,93,880 in Sikandrabad, official data showed.

Police Commissioner Laxmi Singh said proper security arrangements have been made to ensure smooth, peaceful elections in the constituency and exhorted citizens to cast their vote.

"A total of 45 hamlets were identified as vulnerable in Gautam Buddh Nagar where necessary measures and actions have been taken in view of the polls.

Paramilitary forces have carried out area domination at these locations," Singh said.

"A control and command centre is functional at the Collectorate in Surajpur where officers of the DCP and ADM ranks are stationed to monitor polling across Gautam Buddh Nagar," the commissioner said.

Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said proper security arrangements for polls have been made in the district, whose Khurja and Sikandrabad segments fall in Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency.

"Overall, 45 companies of paramilitary personnel are deployed in Bulandshahr and additionally 16,000 police personnel are deployed in the district for the election," Kumar said.

In Gautam Buddh Nagar, those in the fray are BJP's Mahesh Sharma, Samajwadi Party's Mahendra Singh Nagar, BSP's Rajendra Singh Solanki, Rajeev Mishra (Jai Hind National Party), Naresh Nautiyal (Bhartiya Rashtriya Jansatta), Manish Kumar Dwivedi (Akhil Bhartiya Parivar Party), Ran Singh Dudee (Super Power India Party), Narvadeshwar (Subhashwadi Bharatiya Samajwadi Party), Kishor Singh (National Party), Bhim Prakash Jigyasu (Viron ke Vir Indian Party), and Km Shalu (Loktantrik Janshakti Party).

29.41 lakh voters to elect Ghaziabad's Lok Sabha MP on Friday
 

A total of 29,41,624 voters, including 177 belonging to the third gender, in Ghaziabad will elect their Lok Sabha representative on Friday with 14 candidates in the fray for the election from the constituency.

The Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat is spread across five assembly segments of Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, and Dholana. Of these, Dholana geographically comes in adjoining Hapur district.

The constituency has 3,092 polling stations, of which, 608 have been categorised as 'critical' and 37 as 'vulnerable'. Web casting will be done from 1,549 polling stations, according to official figures.

A total of 1,127 polling stations, the maximum, lie in the Sahibabad area, followed by Loni (530), Muradnagar (515), Ghaziabad (506), and Dholana (414), the figures show.

"In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the voter turnout in Ghaziabad was low. I appeal to you to break this trend this time and make Ghaziabad among the constituencies with highest turnout by casting your votes," District Magistrate and District Election Officer Indra Vikram Singh said.

"If any residents' welfare association (RWA) or society records 10 per cent more voter turnout this time than last time, then we will honour them separately," Singh said.

In 2019, BJP's Gen (retired) V K Singh won the Lok Sabha poll from Ghaziabad. This time, he has been replaced by sitting MLA Atul Garg.

Garg is competing with Congress' Dolly Sharma, BSP's Nand Kishor Pundir, Rashtra Nirman Party's Anand Kumar, Rashtriya Jan Karmath Party's Anshul Gupta, Subhashwadi Bhartiya Samajwadi Party's Dhirendra Singh Bhadauria, Samaj Vikas Kranti Party's Jagdish Yadav, and Right to Recall Party's Pooja.

Besides them, six Independent candidates -- Abhishek Pundir, Avdesh Kumar, Aurangjev, Kavita, Natthu Singh Chaudhary, and Ravi Kumar Panchal -- are in the fight, according to the official list.