A total of 20,632 booths have been set up across the state for the election and the polling will continue till 6 p.m. amid tight security arrangements, officials said, adding that there has been no report of any delay in starting the poll process.
In rural areas of the state, electors were seen reaching polling stations even before voting started at 7 a.m.
The contest is likely to be a bipolar one between traditional archrivals -- the state's ruling BJP, which is banking on a third successive stint with its "double-engine" government despite internal rebellions, and the principal Opposition Congress, which is eyeing to dethrone it, citing "existing resentment" among crucial sections like farmers, employees, unemployed youth, and wrestlers.
While both the BJP and the Congress are contesting on 89 seats, political observers told IANS that the presence of candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the state's once-prominent Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), contesting in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the INLD’s breakaway faction Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which is in the fray with the Azad Samaj Party, besides some BJP rebels who are in the fray as Independents, have made the contest triangular or multi-corned on a few seats.
Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said every vote counts and people should actively participate in this festival of democracy by exercising their franchise.
He said 2.03 crore voters, including 1.07 crore men, 95,77,926 women and 467 third-gender voters would cast votes.
According to Agarwal, on the day of voting, all polling stations will be monitored through webcasting at three levels. Control rooms have been set up at the state, district and assembly levels to ensure smooth monitoring during the elections.
To ensure law and order, 225 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed.
He said 29,462 police personnel, 21,196 home guards, and 10,403 Special Police Officers (SPO) have been deployed in the state.
Agarwal said the ‘Voters-in-Queue’ app is available to help voters avoid long waiting times at polling booths, especially in urban areas. The people can use the app to check the status of queues at polling booths. The app updates the line status every 30 minutes.
Anyone from 30 urban legislative assemblies can monitor the queue status from the comfort of their homes using the app.
--IANS
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