Akhilesh Yadav wants polls advanced

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are likely to be advanced by almost two months next year.

UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan, at a high-level meeting of home department officials indicated that the Assembly polls could be held in January-February next year and asked officials to remain vigilant from June-July 2016.

The next government in Uttar Pradesh has to be formed before May 28, 2017 since that first sitting of the Assembly in the Akhilesh Yadav government took place on that date even though the chief minister was sworn in on March 15, 2012.

Elections in 2012 were held in seven phases and the same pattern is expected to be repeated in 2017 which means the entire election process will take around two months.

The state government will soon be communicating with the Election Commission in this regard.

Sources said that the state government was keen on having elections in January-February, mainly because Board examinations are held in April-May and it would be near-impossible for the state employees to manage the Board examination and election duties alongside.

Moreover, elections in April-May also raise the issue of power crisis. “Elections in winter will not make power crisis an election issue but summer elections will prove disadvantageous for us,” admitted a senior UP minister.

UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has already asked all concerned officials to wrap up developmental schemes by October 2016 and hopes for the model code of conduct to be in force in December.

The chief minister has also directed officials to start a two-month campaign at the tehsil-level and resolve property disputes since maximum murders in 2015 have taken place due to property disputes.