<span style="color: #222222;">In the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, all the necessary preparations have been made for the Fifth of the Seven-Phase polling of Assembly Elections tomorrow. The polling will be conducted from 7.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M.<br />''<br />''The Fifth Phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh will be conducted in 61 Assembly Constituencies including 13 ACs reserved for the Scheduled Castes from 12 districts. These districts include Shravasti, Bahraich, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Amethi (Chatrapati Sahuji Mahraj Nagar), Raebareilly, Sultanpur, Gonda, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj and Chitrakoot district.<br />''<br />''The electoral battle scenario in the Fifth Phase of Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh indicates that there are total 692 candidates including 90 women in fray for 61 Assembly seats. Maximum 25 candidates are vying for Pratappur seat while minimum seven candidates each are contesting for seven seats including Milkipur, Payagpur, Barabanki, Zaidpur, Haidergarh, Sadar and Kadipur seat.</span><br />''The total number of eligible electors for this phase is 2.25 crore including 1.20 crore male, 1.05 crore female and 1,727 third gender voters. In all, 25,995 Polling Stations have been set up in the concerned constituencies for their convenience.  <br />''<br />''The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has formed an alliance with Anupriya Patel's Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD Party-led by Sanjay Nishad. The Samajwadi Party has entered into an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party-led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, Janvadi Party (Socialist) and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) led by Krishna Patel and Mahan Dal. All India Trinamool Congress has announced support to the SP, but decided not to field its candidates in the polls. Meanwhile, the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party have announced to go in for the upcoming polls without any alliance. Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has formed an alliance with Babu Singh Kushwaha's Jan Adhikar Party and Bharat Mukti Morcha. Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party has also floated an alliance with over 30 regional parties. The alliance is named Samajik Parivartan Morcha. The Janta Dal (United) is contesting the polls independently in the state.<br />'' <br />''The prominent BJP candidates participating in this phase include Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Ministers Sidhart Nath Singh, Ramapati Shastri, Nand Gopal Gupta and Anupama Jaiswal, former Union Minister Dr Sanjay Singh, former State Minister Ram Chandra Yadav along with Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh, Ved Prakash, Prabhat Kumar, Padam Sen Chaudhari, Prateek Bhushan Singh, Bawan Singh and Sharad Awasthi. The BJP alliance partner Apna Dal (S) has fielded former Minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi and former MP Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel.<br />''<br />''Samajwadi Party has nominated former Ministers Rakesh Verma, Fareed Mahfooz Qidwai, Arvind Kumar Singh Gope, Anand Sen, Yasar Shah and Yogesh Pratap Singh along with Mohammad Naim, Raish Chandra Shukla, Ramesh Chandra Gautam, Tej Narayan Pandey, Suraj Singh, Baijnath Dube, Indrani Devi, Pooja Pal, Vijma Yadav, Richa Singh and Maharaji Prajapati for this phase. Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) has given ticket to Dr Pallavi Patel.<br />''<br />''The BSP has fielded Raghuvansh Dube, Ghanshyam Pandey, Ghulam Qadir, Sanjay Goswami, Devendra Mishra Nagraha, Abbas Ali Zaidi, Ravi Prakash, Naeem,  Alimuddin, Vinod Kumar Shukla, Ranjit Goswami, Ram Kishor, Munsab Ali, Atul Kumar Dwivedi, along with Meeta Gautam, Nigar Fatma Usmani and Ragini Tiwari. Four-time MLA Anugrah Narain Singh, Pradeep Singh, Ashish Shukla, Talat Azim, Sanjay Tiwari, Jai Prakash Mishra, Tasleem Uddin, Gyanesh Shukla, Tahir Wano and Ram Pratap Singh along with Urmila Patel, Alpana Nishad, Gajala Chaudhari, Chitra Verma, Rita and Seema Devi from Congress are in the fray.<br />''<br />''Apart from them, Vishnu Kumar, Altaf Ahmad, Shubham Srivastav, Rajat Chaurasia and Sushmita Raghav of Aam Aadmi Party, Kumail Ashraf Khan, Arun Kumar, Mohibul haque, Mohammad Farhan, Rashid Jamil and Sher Mohammad of AIMIM and Rajendra Sonkar of Lok Dal along with Suryakant Pandey of CPI are also trying their luck in this phase.<br />''<br />''The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is being used along with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at every Polling Station, with a view to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election process, as VVPAT allows the voter to verify his or her vote. The arrangements have already been made to ensure availability of adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs for the smooth conduct of elections.    <br />''In view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and rising cases of Omicron variant across the country, Election Commission has laid focus on COVID-safe elections with maximum participation. It is going to ensure the safety of vote and voters as both are equally and critically important in the democracy.  <br />'' <br />''The Election Commission has decided to allow maximum 1,250 electors in a Polling Station instead of earlier stipulation of 1,500 electors. Accordingly, there is a major change in the number of Polling Stations in the poll-bound states of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.<br />''<br />''Option of Postal Ballot facility has been extended to the electors who are COVID-19 positive or suspect as certified by competent authority and are in home or institutional quarantine along with those marked as Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and above the age of 80 years.<br />''As per the Election Commission instructions, the concerned Chief Electoral Officers are ensuring that every Polling Station is equipped with Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) like drinking water, waiting shed, toilet with water facility, adequate arrangements for lighting, ramp of appropriate gradient for the Persons with Disabilities. The special facilities include mandatory sanitization of Polling Station, thermal checking of voters at entry point either by polling staff or paramedical staff or an Asha worker. At the last hour of poll, such electors will be facilitated for voting, strictly following COVID-19 related preventive measures.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">In view of the pandemic, the Commission has decided to extend the poll timing by one hour in all Assembly Constituencies. The COVID-19 patients, who are quarantined, will be allowed to cast their vote at the last hour of the poll day at their respective Polling Stations, under the supervision of health authorities, strictly following COVID-19 related preventive measures. Proper mechanism of collection and disposal of waste or used gloves will be put in place at each Polling Station.</span>