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Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
Close to eighteen million new voters have been added to the voters list in Uttar Pradesh, where elections to the 403 state assembly constituencies are to be held in three phases during the month of February.
UP's chief election officer Noor Mohammed said, "As against about 80 million voters in the last election in 1996, the number has gone up to 98 million."
As a result polling booths have been increased by a couple of thousand to a whooping 116,000 booths.
Significantly, more than half of these have been declared 'sensitive'.
Mohammad said, "Special arrangements will be made for the 56,000 sensitive polling booths."
All political parties have been asked to maintain separate accounts that will be scrutinised by central observers to be appointed by the election commission.
Mohammad said special care has been taken to bracket certain constituencies on a particular date.
Thus, large parts of western UP comprising 15 districts -- popularly known as the Jat belt -- would go to polls on February 14, followed by 28 districts in central UP and Bundelkhand on February 18 and 27 districts falling in the highly sensitive eastern UP on February 21.
Electronic voting machines would be used at each of the polling booths throughout UP as well as the new state of Uttaranchal, where polling would be held on February 11.
Polling in Lucknow, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would be held during the second phase on February 18, together with Kanpur.
"In view of the on going disturbances in Nepal, polling in each of the bordering districts had been strategically spread on the three dates," the chief election officer said.
Since photo-identity cards are not likely to be issued to each of the 986,000 voters before the fresh deadline of January 31, the election commission had made an optional provision for any other form of identification.
"But identification will be absolutely indispensable," Mohammed added.
Meanwhile, chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh is arriving on a five-day visit to the state from Thursday.
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