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Gautam Buddh Nagar, the district comprising Noida and Greater Noida, will vote for Lok Sabha elections on Friday. The district administration has announced the closure of schools and colleges on Friday, April 26, in view of the elections. Educational institutions will work on Saturday.
The district administration has asked factories to grant a paid holiday to their workers on Friday so thay they can vote. "There has been feedback that some workers are not able to go to vote because they would be stuck at work, hence this decision has been taken," district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Some 2.675 million people are eligible to vote in Gautam Buddh Nagar.
The district administration is encouraging Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) and Apartment Owners' Associations (AOAs) to motivate residents to vote in large numbers. RWAs and AOAs with improved voter turnouts will be commended and felicitated by the administration.
"We will also hand out commendation certificates to RWAs and AOAs where the voter turnout shows improvement this time," Verma said.
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Liquor shops in Noida and Greater Noida have been closed for 48 hours since yesterday evening.
The order, which will be strictly enforced in Gautam Buddh Nagar, was announced by District Excise Officer Subodh Kumar Srivastava. He said that violators would face legal action, including penalties or imprisonment, in accordance with the regulations.
In a statement to PTI, Srivastava said, “As per rules, liquor outlets should close down 48 hours ahead of the election. Here, all authorised liquor outlets will remain closed from 6 pm on Wednesday [April 24] to 6 pm, or end of voting time, on Friday [April 26]."
"Excise officials are continuously monitoring the sales of liquor in Noida and Greater Noida in view of the elections and inspecting all complaints of irregularities to ensure timely action," he added.
Srivastava also warned that during the closure period, any individual caught selling liquor illegally would face strict legal consequences, including fines or imprisonment, as per Excise laws.
Gautam Buddha Nagar, one of Uttar Pradesh's Lok Sabha constituencies, encompasses Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Sikandrabad, and Khurja. With a total of 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh, this constituency holds significance in the political landscape. Notably, it is a general seat, not reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs). Over the years, Gautam Buddh Nagar has been a battleground for major political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress, and Samajwadi Party (SP).
