Dehradun: After weeks of hectic electioneering, Uttarakhand is all set to vote for the key Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections today. A total of 23.53 lakh voters — 12.20 lakh male and 11.33 lakh females — will decide the fate of candidates contesting in the 84 ULBs across Uttarakhand.Many observers feel that this election is primarily a fight for supremacy between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in the state. While the BJP is eyeing to strengthen its vote base by repeating the performance of Lok Sabha and assembly polls, Congress is looking to make a strong comeback through the ULB polls A close contest is also anticipated for several mayoral seats in the state. For the first time, Rishikesh and Kotdwar would be witnessing mayoral polls.In Dehradun, former minister and three-time MLA Dinesh Agarwal is in a traingular contest with BJP’s Sunil Uniyal Gama and AAP’s Rajni Rawat. BJP’s Annu Kakkad and Congress nominee Anita Sharma are engrossed in a close battle at Haridwar and Sumit Hridayesh, the son of leader of opposition Indira Hridayesh is challenging BJP’s Jogendra Rautela at Haldwani in a fight which is being termed as the “most intense” in the state.Wives of two prominent politicians are pitted against each other at Kotdwar as BJP’s Neetu Rawat is contesting against Congress nominee Hemlata Negi. While Hemlata is the wife of former Congress health minister Surendra Singh Negi, Neetu is the wife of BJP’s Lansdowne MLA Dilip Singh Rawat.There are a total of 1,064 wards across the Himalayan state, which will witness polling at 2,664 booths spread across 1,257 polling centres. The polling would start at 8am and end at 5pm.State election commissioner Chandra Shekhar Bhatt told TOI that a total of 110 zonal magistrates, 276 sector magistrates and 35 observers have been appointed by the election commission to keep a tab on the polling process on Sunday.As far as voter statistics are concerned, there are 31,460 voters in Almora, 19,664 in Bageshwar, 50,632 in Chamoli, 29,459 in Champawat, 8,08,348 in Dehradun, 3,26,628 in Haridwar, 3,01,807 in Nainital, 1,28,335 in Pauri, 49,395 in Pithoragarh, 13,747 in Rudraprayag, 63,865 in Tehri, 4,87,853 in Udham Singh Nagar and 42,730 in Uttarakashi district.

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