UP Assembly polls before May 14: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy, on a visit here to supervise the arrangements for Assembly elections in Uttarakhand

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy, on a visit here to supervise the arrangements for Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, said the forthcoming elections in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh would be held before the constitutional requirement of having an Assembly before May 14.

He said all the arrangements for the February 21 Uttarkhand elections were satisfactory and nearly 90 per cent of the electorates would be provided photo-identity cards.

Asked about the demand by the various political parties to allow some other proofs of identity in case photo identity cards were not given, Gopalaswamy said that 81 per cent of the total electorates have already been provided with photo identity cards and nearly 90 per cent of the work would be completed in the next two weeks.

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“The Commission would take a decision on the issue at the appropriate time,” he said.

About poll preparedness in UP, the CEC said work to update the voting list has been on and a total of 52 lakh voters were deleted and 48 new voters added to the list.

He said the police and home guard from Himachal Pradesh and UP would be called for election duties in Uttarakhand.

“There would be at least one constable in each polling station as per the demand of the political parties,” he said adding, central para-military forces have been also requisitioned to seal off the border with UP to check any criminal or rowdy elements from entering Uttarkhand on the day of polling.

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