SP debacle in UP municipal polls spells trouble for Akhilesh
Uncle Shivpal Yadav has said, ‘Allegation of rigged EVMs is baseless. If the party lost the elections then who is to blame?’
The dismal performance of the Samajwadi Party in the recently concluded municipal elections has put Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav in a spot.
The Samajwadi Party not only lost all the 16 mayoral posts, but also lost its deposit in nine out of 16 seats.
More importantly, the party suffered serious reverses in its bastion, including Ferozabad and Kannauj.
Besides, the election results indicate a decisive shift in Muslim votes towards the BSP, which won Aligarh and Meerut seats—both having a substantial Muslim votes.
If the trend consolidates, the Samajwadi Party is bound to lose more ground in the 2019 Lok Sabha and then the 2022 Assembly elections in UP.
Party leaders, on condition of anonymity, are getting vocal and blame Akhilesh Yadav for the debacle. As party president, Akhilesh Yadav did not campaign at all for his party candidates and neither did he ask other leaders to campaign.
“What does one do with a party that fields candidates but does not campaign? Were we deliberately giving a walkover to the BJP?” asked a party veteran.
An SP MLA said, “Akhilesh Yadav is surrounded by a coterie of leaders who have no ground support and they are giving him wrong advice. If the party president refuses to campaign for his candidates, what message is he sending out? Moreover, none of the senior leaders were asked to campaign and the candidates were left on their own”.
Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh’s estranged uncle, said, “Allegation of rigged EVMs is baseless. If the party lost the elections then who is to blame? Who selected the candidates and who decided the campaign?”
Interestingly, Mulayam Singh Yadav did not campaign for the party and neither did Shivpal Yadav. In fact, Shivpal Yadav openly supported an independent candidate Sunil Jolly for the Jaswantnagar Palika Parishad seat and ensured his victory. Sunil Jolly was in SP, but had been denied ticket by Akhilesh Yadav.
Another SP legislator said that the party’s defeat in districts represented by top leaders should also be debated upon. “The family war has already taken its toll on the morale of party workers and then the indifferent attitude of party president has worsened the situation. The selection of candidates was also arbitrary and none of the party workers knew who was Meera Vardhan (candidate for Lucknow mayor) or when did she join the party.”
The MLAs want the party leadership to “actively discuss” the party’s health with the workers and take steps to revive it.
“If the party continues to remains in a state of slumber, we have no hopes for 2019 general elections. Akhilesh Yadav should consult the senior party leaders and not just rely on his coterie,” said a former SP minister.
State SP president Naresh Uttam blamed the “misuse of state machinery” for the BJP’s victory.
Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, refused to react to the dismal performance of his party in the municipal elections. However, he tweeted on Saturday that the “BJP has only won 15% seats in ballot paper areas and 46% in EVM areas.” At 23, she looks like any other student on the verge of a career and the most unlikely career for her seems to be politics.But Sadia Rafiq is now the youngest corporator from Lucknow and is all set for a career in politics.
Sadia has been elected as an independent candidate from Tilaknagar ward, defeating the BJP candidate. Her father Rafiq Ansari and brother Adil have been corporators from the same ward, but this time, the seat was reserved for women.
“I belong to a family of politicians. My father, uncle and brother are already active in politics and have contested elections too. When I expressed the desire to join politics and serve the people, there was no resistance from the family. I am well versed with the intrigues of politics and hope to move ahead without much problem,” she says.
Sadia is presently doing her graduation in mass communication and has a keen interest in photography.
“Journalism is closest to politics and that is why I chose this field,” she explains.
In her new avatar as a corporator, Sadia plans to fight for basic amenities in her ward. “There is a problem of clean drinking water in my ward. Women have to line up for a bucket of water. The drainage system has almost collapsed. Besides, I want to empower women who have remained within the confines of their homes till now,” she says.
Sadia admits that it was her education that helped her win the elections. “When my voters came to know that I am studying, they encouraged me by choosing me. They see new hope in me and I have to live up to their expectations,” she says.
This young politician, however, is clear that she will not give up her education though politics is a full time career. “It is difficult, but not impossible. In fact, I also want to do my master’s in mass communications,” she says, adding that well educated people must join politics if they wish to make a difference.
She feels that women who join politics should also learn to take their own decisions instead of being governed by their husbands, fathers and sons. The number of cases reported to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ( ICAI) against Chartered Accountants (CAs) has gone up, but the pace of action taken in such cases has been tardy. This has been revealed by data procured via RTI. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sounded his concerns over complaints against CAs facilitating movement of black money in the aftermath of demonetisation.
According to the data, ICAI received total 246 cases in 2010, 233 in 2011, 266 in 2012, 427 in 2013, 443 in 2014, 480 in 2015, 460 in 2016 and 474 in 2017. The RTI had been filed by petitioner Mohit Gupta, a lawyer.
The disciplinary directorate of the ICAI categorises cases into two sub-heads, namely, “complaint” and “information”. Cases that are reported to the ICAI by agencies, companies, shareholders, government regulators etc., are treated as “complaints”, while those cases that come to the ICAI’s notice via media or any other public platform are treated as “information”.
There has been a huge jump in the number of cases of “information” received by ICAI in 2017, though the number of complaints has seen