'Check women in burkhas,' demands BJP minister Balyan over 'proxy voting’ allegations in Muzaffarnagar

Union Minister Dr Sanjiv Balyan on Thursday hit out at administration for not being able to check proxy voting during the Phase 1 polling of the Lok Sabha Elections that is underway. The BJP candidate from Uttar Pradesh’s politically-sensitive Muzaffarnagar has demanded the women police personnel at the polling booths. “Faces of women in burkhas are not being checked and I allege that fake voting is being done,” Balyan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “If not looked into, I will demand a repoll,” he added. Muzaffarnagar is among the at parliamentary constituencies that are polling for the Round 1 of the General Elections 2019.

Voters in 91 constituencies are using their franchise in the first phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. 20 states and Union Territories are polling in the first phase. Voting process will be completed in Andhra Pradesh (25 seats), Telangana (17 seats), Uttarakhand (5 seats), Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Meghalaya (2 seats), Nagaland (1 seat), Sikkim (1 seat), Mizoram (1 seat), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1 seat) and Lakshadweep (1 seat). Other states which are going for polls are Uttar Pradesh (8/80 seats), Maharashtra (7/48 seats), Assam (5/14 seats), Bihar (4/40 seats), Odisha (4/21 seats), West Bengal (2/42 seats), Jammu and Kashmir (2/6 seats), Tripura (1/2 seats) and Manipur (1/2 seats) and Chhattisgarh (1/11 seats).

Some of the key constituencies in the first phase of elections are Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Nagpur and Chandrapur in Maharashtra, Tura in Meghalaya, Kaliabor and Dibrugarh in Assam, Arunachal West in Arunachal Pradesh, Gaya and Jamui in Bihar, Kalahandi and Koraput in Odisha, Hyderabad, Nizamabad and Nalgonda in Telangana, Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Cooch Behar in West Bengal, Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar and Garhwal in Uttarakhand and Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh. Several prominent candidates are in the fray in the first phase of elections – Nitin Gadkari, Mahesh Sharma, VK Singh, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Daggubati Purandeswari, Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Harish Rawat, Nana Patole, Asaduddin Owaisi, Renuka Choudhary, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Gaurav Gogoi, Muhammad Akbar Lone, Kiren Rijiju and Ashok Gajapathi Raju. Let's see the state-wise key constituencies and prominent candidates in detail.