Nominations for Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections begin in 18 districts

The nomination process for the first phase of panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh started on Saturday.
Applicants, not following social distancing norms, wait to file nominationpapers for panchayat elections, in Prayagraj on Saturday | PTI
Applicants, not following social distancing norms, wait to file nominationpapers for panchayat elections, in Prayagraj on Saturday | PTI

LUCKNOW:  The nomination process for the first phase of panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh started on Saturday. The process will continue on Sunday as well and the candidates aspiring to contest the Gram, Block and Zila Panchayat posts in 18 districts have started filing their papers at the development block headquarters in these districts. The voting for the first phase will take place on April 15. Additional Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma has issued instructions to District Magistrates that the crowd of supporters of candidates coming to the Block headquarters should be stopped outside at a radius of 200 metres on the nomination day.

Only the candidate, his election agent, proposer and one more person is allowed to enter the premises of Block office. The SEC has also issued Covid-19 guidelines with a direction that if a Covid-affected person or a person living with a Covid patient wants to contest the election, he/she can submit the nomination papers through a proposer or any other authorised person. Soap, water and sanitiser will be arranged for the persons coming to present the nomination papers in the Returning Officer’s Room.

The guidelines also mention that the candidate and one more person accompanying him will be allowed to enter the Returning Officer’s Room for submission of nomination papers. Arrangements have been made for other candidates and their attendants to sit outside the waiting room so as to maintain the social distancing norm. The districts going to polls in the first phase include Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Hathras, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi, Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti, Santakbirnagar, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi.

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