UP municipal elections: Defence minister Rajnath Singh casts vote in Lucknow

Lucknow: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday cast his vote in Lucknow in the first phase of Municipal Corporation elections and urged people to exercise their franchise.
"I appeal to all the voters of Lucknow to cast their votes for the UP Municipal Elections 2023," the Union Minister said after casting his vote. The first phase of Municipal Corporation elections began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security arrangements. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak were among the first to cast votes.
In the first phase, voters in 37 districts of 9 divisions and 10 municipal corporations will exercise their franchise to elect 7,593 representatives, including 10 mayors and 820 corporators.
The first phase of voting is being held in 37 districts Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Mainpuri, Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Gonda, Bahraich, Balrampur, Shravasti, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli and Jaunpur of 9 divisions of Uttar Pradesh i.e. Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Devipatan, Gorakhpur and Varanasi.
In 10 municipal corporations, voting will be held in 830 wards, 9,699 polling places and 2,658 polling stations are set up in Municipal Corporations.
There are 63,03,542 male and 53,62,151 female voters in Municipal Corporation.
Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak also cast his vote at Mahanagar Boys' Monfront Inter College in Lucknow and appealed to the public to vote for development.
He claimed a big win for his party in the municipal corporation elections, with the majority of seats going to the BJP.
On the other hand, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Thursday cast her vote and expressed her hope to receive a "good response" from the public for the party.
"Our party is fighting this election alone without the support of any other party. We are hopeful that our party will receive a good response and we will get positive results," BSP Supremo told reporters.
She further urged people to cast their votes in the urban elections which are underway.
The polling for the second phase will take place on May 11 to elect representatives for the posts across 760 local bodies in the state. The counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI)