PM Modi Urges People From UP, Uttarakhand to Participate in Elections

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urges voters from Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand to participate in elections.

PM Modi tweeted: "It is second phase elections in UP today. I urge the voters to come out in large numbers and participate in this celebration of democracy. It is the voting day in Uttarakhand. I urge all of the voters to come out in large numbers and vote."

Polling began this morning in 67 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts. For Uttar Pradesh, this will be the second of its seven-phase polling.

The stakes are high for the state's ruling Samajwadi Party, which holds 34 of the 67 seats. The districts going to polls form part of Uttar Pradesh's Rohilkhand region - a paddy and sugarcane belt, in which cane dues are expected to be a big issue.

The fate of 721 candidates is to be sealed by balloting of 2.28 crore voters of which a sizable number (47.72 lakh) is of young voters, aged 18-19 years. Polling agents have been deployed in adequate numbers, an Election Commission official told IANS.

Chief Electoral Officer T. said that 2,983 of the total 23,695 polling booths have been identified as sensitive and security scaled up there.

Meanwhile, in Uttarakhand, the BJP is hoping to unseat the ruling Congress government of Chief Minister Harish Rawat, which is battling corruption charges.

Uttarakhand goes into voting for 69 constituencies.

(With IANS inputs)