Ghaziabad by-poll on November 13, election code comes into effect

The model code of conduct (MCC) has come into force in Ghaziabad on Tuesday, after the Election Commission of India (ECI) held a press conference and announced the schedule for by-elections to 48 assembly constituencies and two parliamentary constituencies in 15 states, including Ghaziabad assembly constituency.
Apart from Ghaziabad, nine others assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled for by-polls. The Ghaziabad seat fell vacant after incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Atul Garg won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Ghaziabad and became a member of Parliament.
“The model code came into force with immediate effect after the press conference. We will also hold a press briefing to announce various details related to Ghaziabad by-poll,” said Indra Vikram Singh, district magistrate.
Ghaziabad district has five assembly seats of Loni, Muradnagar, Modinagar, Ghaziabad and Sahibabad, and all five were retained by respective MLAs from the BJP in 2022.
The ECI on Tuesday also rolled out the schedule for nine of 10 assembly seats in UP. These nine seats include Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Karhal, Shishamau, Phulpur, Katehari and Majhawan.
“The Model Code of Conduct shall come into force with immediate effect in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the assembly constituency going for election is included, subject to provision…,” the statement by ECI on Tuesday, said.
The district administration on Tuesday said the assembly seat has a total 461,360 voters (based on electoral rolls revision up to October 15), including 254,017 men, 207,314 women and 29 transgenders.
The district has 119 polling centres and 506 polling booths and four zonal magistrates and 22 sector magistrates will be deployed on duty besides 16 other senior officials.
According to the schedule issued by the ECI, the notification will be issued on October 18 and October 25 will be the last date for filing of nominations. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 28 while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 30.
The date of polling will be November 13 and the counting will take place on November 23, said officials.
During the previous assembly election in March 2022, Garg won the seat by defeating his nearest rival Samajwadi Party’s Vishal Verma by a margin of 105,537 votes.
Although the by-poll schedule has been announced, major political paries are yet to announce their candidates.
“We are confident that our candidate will surely secure a win and retain the Ghaziabad seat. Presently, we are conducting membership programmes and the party leadership will soon announce the candidate,” said Pradeep Chaudhary, media coordinator, BJP city unit.
Vinit Tyagi, district president of the Congress, said the party is hopeful that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party will contest by-polls in alliance a s they did the Lok Sabha elections.
“It is likely that the decision on seat sharing will be announced by end of the week. It is very likely that the Ghaziabad seat will be contested by the Congress,” Tyagi said.