UP schools up to Class 12 closed today, 23 October, on Election Commission's order: Here's why

Schools in 73 out of 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh will be closed on Friday (October 23). No classes will be held for students up to 12th standard, Hindustan reported.

Why are schools shut in UP today?

Several schools in Uttar Pradesh were ordered to remain shut in the wake of the UP Legislative Council Block Teacher and Block Graduate (MLC) elections.

The holiday has been declared in each district on the orders of the Election Commission, the report added. The order states that there will be a special holiday on October 23rd due to the MLC elections.

Instructions in this regard have been sent to the schools by the BSA and District School Inspectors, on the orders of the District Election Officer (i.e., the District Magistrate).

UP MLC Election today, Oct 23

Voting will be held for 11 MLC seats in Uttar Pradesh. Voting centers have been set up in 72 of the 75 districts. MLC elections have already been held in Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, and Unnao.

Elections will be held for five Block Graduate seats and six Block Teacher seats.

The five graduate constituencies where elections will be held include the Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Varanasi, and Allahabad-Jhansi graduate constituencies. The six teacher constituencies where elections will be held are Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Varanasi, Bareilly-Moradabad, and Gorakhpur-Faizabad.

A total of 1.418 million voters will decide the fate of 152 candidates.