In a first, poll rolls in Urdu for 46 UP seats

Lucknow: In a first, electoral rolls in 46 Assembly constituencies spanning across 22 districts in Uttar Pradesh, will be printed in Urdu as well.

According to official sources in the State Election Commission (SEC), these constituencies have been identified because of the sizeable Muslim population. However, in case of a dispute, the Hindi version of electoral rolls would be considered authentic.

The staff in these Assembly segments will be well versed in Urdu.

The official website of the SEC states that three of the 46 constituencies are reserved. These are Nagina and Nehtaur in Bijnore district and Chandausi in Sambhal district.

Incidentally, Bijnore district will have the maximum number of constituency with electoral rolls in Urdu. The district will have eight constituencies, namely, Barhapur, Bijnore, Chandpur, Dhampur, Nagina (SC), Najibabad, Nehtaur (SC) and Noorpur.

In Lucknow, voters in Lucknow Central and Lucknow West will find their names appearing in Urdu. Moradabad will have five Assembly segments with Urdu electoral rolls, including Bilari, Kundarki, Moradabad rural, Moradabad city and Thakurdwara.

Apart from this, three Assembly constituencies each in districts of Meerut, Rampur, Saharanpur and Sambhal would also have electoral rolls in Urdu.

Aligarh, Amroha, Bareilly, Kanpur Nagar would see Urdu electoral rolls being made available in two Assembly constituencies.

SEC sources said that 39 of the 46 said Assembly constituencies are in western Uttar Pradesh, three are in Purvanchal (Mau, Sant Kabir Nagar and Ambedkar Nagar) and four are in central Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow and Kanpur).