In Uttar Pradesh, campaigning for the first two phases of the elections has gained momentum. Eleven districts of West UP will go to polls on 10th February in the first phase and 9 districts in the second phase on 14th February. A total of 113 assembly constituencies out of 403 will vote in the first two phases.<br />''<br />''AIR correspondent reports that the political parties are putting their best efforts to reach out to voters. Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is spearheading the party's campaign in Western UP along with party president JP Nadda.<br />''<br />''Both these leaders visited five districts yesterday where they held door-to-door campaigns and meetings with the party workers and eminent citizens.<br />''<br />''Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is also on a campaign spree in assembly constituencies going for polls in the first phase. Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Dinesh Sharma held a door-to-door campaign in Greater Noida today.<br />''<br />''Samajwadi Party on the other hand is organising at least two virtual rallies daily in the forenoon and afternoon. Party president Akhilesh Yadav is also conducting a press conference in Lucknow daily to brief the media about the party's policies and plans.<br />''<br />''Congress is in the fray by launching two manifestoes one for Youth and the other for women. Party's campaign is mostly centered around these manifestoes till date.<br />''<br />''The Chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party is in the race with its new slogan 'Har polling booth ko jeetna hai, BSP ko satta mein lana hai'.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party has announced the candidature of Shivpal Singh Yadav from Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah district. The Party also lodged a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh demanding immediate and complete ban on telecast of opinion polls on news channels.<br />''<br />''Punjab Lok Congress, a political party founded by former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh will release the list of its all 38 candidates for the Assembly Elections today. The Media Advisor of Captain Amarinder Singh, Raveen Thukral informed this on Twitter. Punjab Lok Congress is contesting the Assembly polls in alliance with BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal Sanyukt of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.<br />''<br />''Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Dr S. Karuna Raju has directed the Returning Officers to ensure that the right document is uploaded on the Know Your Candidate app, launched for electors to know the particulars and criminal antecedents of any candidate.<br />''<br />''CEO asked them to select the check box 'Yes' or 'No' for Candidate Criminal Antecedent and upload the scanned document submitted by the candidate in Encore offline nomination. He said that Returning Officers will ensure Criminal antecedents of candidates get public visibility through KYC (Know Your Candidate) App.<br />''<br />''He said, Returning Officer also needs to re-verify and ensure that the check box is marked appropriately as "Yes or "No" as per the details submitted by the candidate.<br />''<br />''Dr Raju urged voters of Punjab to download the app which has has been developed to provide wide publicity and greater awareness regarding criminal antecedents of contesting candidates to ensure transparent election. This app can be downloaded from Google play store and Apple App store and the link is also available on the Election Commission's website.<br />''<br />''Congress released the first list of 53 candidates for Uttarakhand assembly polls last night. The Party has fielded Former state assembly speaker Yashpal Arya from Bajpur. Former Leader of Opposition Indira Hridayesh's son Sumit Hridayesh will fight from Haldwani.<br />''<br />''Leader of opposition in State assembly Pritam Singh will contest from Chakrata and Party's state president Ganesh Godiyal has been fielded from Srinagar.<br />''<br />''Congress also released its first list of 40 candidates for the upcoming Manipur Assembly elections. The list consists of 24 candidates of the assembly constituencies which will go to poll on 27 February in the first phase. The remaining 16 candidates will be contesting in the second phase of election.<br />''<br />''Former Chief Minister and leader of Congress, Okram Ibobi has been fielded from Thoubal Assembly constituency while his son Surjakumar Okram has been given a ticket from Khangabok seat. Both the constituencies fall under Thoubal district.<br />''<br />''In the first phase, polls for 38 assembly constituencies will be conducted while polls for 22 seats will be held on 3rd March in the second phase.<br />''<br />''Among the 40 candidates announced last evening, 11 candidates belong to Scheduled Tribe constituencies.<br />''<br />''The Election Commission has extended ban on physical rallies and roadshows till 31st of this month. The Commission yesterday held a review meeting with the Union Health Secretary through virtual mode.<br />''<br />''The Commission also held virtual meetings with Chief Secretaries, Chief Electoral Officers and Health Secretaries of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.<br />''<br />''Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra along with Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey held a comprehensive review of the present situation with respect to status and projected trends of COVID pandemic in the five poll going states.<br />''<br />''The Commission deliberated on relaxing restrictions for physical rallies in the wake of prevailing situation.<br />''<br />''After considering the present situation, facts and circumstances as also the inputs received in these meetings, the Commission has decided that no road show, Pad-yatra, cycle or bike or vehicle rally and procession shall be allowed till 31st of this month.<br />