CEC justifies 7-phase polling in UP

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy on Wednesday defended the seven-phased Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

While stating that it was the longest-ever polls ever announced in a state, Gopalaswamy added that only West Bengal with 49,000 polling stations came a distant second to UP.

Once in an Assembly election in Bihar, the polls got extended to seven-phase though it was originally intended to be a four-phased polling, he said.

Almost 1,10,000 polling stations would be set up during the polling, which would begin on April 7 and end on May 8.