Voting will be held from 8am to 4pm on Friday at 200 booths across 17 districts. Gorakhpur: Polling parties left for their designated booths on Thursday as preparations for the Gorakhpur-Faizabad teachers’ constituency election have been completed.
A total of 54,910 teachers are eligible to vote, around 15,000 more than in the previous election. The electoral fate of 16 candidates will be sealed in ballot boxes. They can rank candidates by writing 1, 2 or 3 against their names in order of preference. Azamgarh has the highest number of voters at 8,592, followed by Gorakhpur with 7,289 and Mau with 5,131. In the 2020 election, Ajay finished second, drawing support from teachers in unaided schools.
Voters will have to use pens provided by the Election Commission to mark their preferences on ballot papers. The contest has gained political significance, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigning for BJP candidate Dhruv Tripathi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav seeking support for SP nominee Sanjayan Tripathi. SP MPs, MLAs and office-bearers have intensified their campaign following Akhilesh’s appeal. Independent candidates Ajay Singh and Rajiv Yadav are also in the fray. Rajiv, who finished third in the previous election, is seeking support among teachers in aided and unaided schools, particularly younger educators.