Nomination for UP Panchayat Elections from Today; Know Timings, Deadline and Other Details

The nomination process for the first phase of the Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh will start from today i.e., Saturday. The process will go till Sunday and the candidates will file their nominations for the posts of Gram Pradhan, Gram Panchayat, Area and Zilla Panchayat members in 18 districts of the state.

The nomination papers will be filed between 8 am and 5 pm at all the development block headquarters in the districts on the two days.

Additional Election Commissioner of the State Election Commission (SEC), Ved Prakash Verma has issued instructions to all the District Magistrates that the crowd of supporters of the candidates coming to the Block Headquarters should be stopped outside the radius of 200 meters on the nomination day. Only the candidate, his election agent, proposer and one more person is allowed to enter the nomination site.

The SEC has issued a Covid-19 guideline directing according to which if a Covid infected patient or a person living with him wants to contest the election, he can submit his nomination letter to the returning officer by his proposer or any other authorized person. Such persons will not themselves appear before the Returning Officer. Soap, water and sanitizer will be arranged for the persons coming to present the nomination papers in the Returning Officer’s Room and staff will be deployed for its use.

The SEC has also directed that the attendants had to put on a mask to present the nomination papers. People will not be allowed to enter the room of the Returning Officer without a mask. Only the candidate and one other person with him will be allowed to enter the Returning Officer’s Room for submission of nomination papers. Arrangements will be made for other candidates and their attendants to sit outside the waiting room in such a way that proper social distance can be followed.

The districts that are included in the first phase of UP Panchayat Elections include Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Hathras, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Jhansi, Mahoba, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Shravasti, Santakbirnagar, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi.