BJP woos independents, SP upsets applecart

TRENDS, RESULTS AVAILABLE FOR 3,050 DISTRICT PANCHAYAT WARDS SHOWED THE SP WINNING OR LEADING IN 779 WARDS

LUCKNOW : The three-tier panchayat elections, considered a semi-final before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, provided a boost to the Samajwadi Party (SP) that bagged the single largest chunk of zila panchayat wards, but the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up with a below par performance and was now looking to make amends in the indirect election for zila panchayat chief and block pramukhs, who will be chosen by zila panchayat members.

The trends and results available for the 3,050 district panchayat wards on Wednesday evening showed the SP winning or leading in 779 wards, the BJP at 579, BSP at 361 and the Congress at 76. Independents and smaller parties won or led in 1,272 wards.

The BJP, which secured a landslide victory in the 2017 UP assembly election bagging 312 out of 403 seats in the state assembly over four years ago, suffered setbacks in its bastions of Ayodhya, Varanasi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur in the panchayat elections even as the SP maintained its grip on its strongholds of Etawah, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Azamgarh, Etah, Kasganj and Farrukhabad by bagging the maximum seats. Although the panchayat elections are not contested on party symbols and the State Election Commission (SEC) has said results won’t be declared on party lines, all parties have officially released the names of the candidates backed by them.

LUCKNOW: The three-tier panchayat elections, considered a semi-final before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, provided a boost to the Samajwadi Party (SP) that bagged the single largest chunk of zila panchayat wards, but the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up with a below par performance and was now looking to make amends in the indirect election for zila panchayat chief and block pramukhs, who will be chosen by zila panchayat members.

The trends and results available for the 3,050 district panchayat wards on Wednesday evening showed the SP winning or leading in 779 wards, the BJP at 579, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at 361 and the Congress at 76. Independents and smaller parties won or led in 1,272 wards.

The BJP, which secured a landslide victory in the 2017 UP assembly election bagging 312 out of 403 seats in the state assembly over four years ago, suffered setbacks in its bastions of Ayodhya, Varanasi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur in the panchayat elections even as the SP maintained its grip on its strongholds of Etawah (western UP), Kannauj (central UP), Mainpuri (western UP), Azamgarh (eastern UP), Etah (western UP), Kasganj (western UP) and Farrukhabad (western UP) by bagging the maximum seats.

Although the panchayat elections are not contested on party symbols and the State Election Commission (SEC) has said results won’t be declared on party lines, all parties have officially released the names of the candidates backed by them.

The BJP has already opened channels with the independents, a majority of them rebels from various parties, to try and win the maximum of the zila panchayat chairpersons’ and block pramukhs’ post. “Several independents are in touch with us,” a BJP leader confirmed. The indirect elections are to be held for 75 posts of zila panchayat chairpersons and 826 kshetra panchayat chairpersons (block chiefs).

“In 2015, when the Samajwadi Party was in power, they had claimed win in nearly 2100 zila panchayat seats. Naturally, they won the indirect polls to elect the zila panchayat chief and block pramukh too. But this time our performance wasn’t up to the mark and a major reason for it could be several party candidates contesting for the same post, which created confusion and ultimately division of our votes,” a BJP leader said.

The victory of the SP and other Opposition candidates in the panchayat elections is likely to set the tone for fresh political realignment and alliances before the assembly election. The smaller political parties, including the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Apna Dal, the Azad Samaj Party (Bhim Army) and the Pragtisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia also bagged wards in the areas of their influence. The Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha launched by the smaller parties has called for a united alliance against the NDA in the 2022 assembly election, said SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar.

The farmers’ agitation against three central agrarian laws dented the BJP’s fortunes in west UP where it had won the maximum seats in the 2017 assembly elections. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) that won only one seat in the 2017 assembly election and was wiped out in its stronghold in west UP, made a comeback in the panchayat election, winning seats in Meerut, Shamli, Bulandshahr, Baghpat, Hapur and Bijnor (all in the west UP region).

The BJP had “organised” chaupals in the villages before the panchayat elections with party MPs, MLAs and a battery of ministers campaigning in the rural areas.

In Varanasi, the SP won 15 of the 40 wards, the BJP seven, the BSP seven and the Congress five wards so far. In Ayodhya, the SP won 24 of 40 wards, the BJP bagged six and the BSP five.

In Lucknow, the SP won 10 of 25 wards, the BJP bagged three and the BSP secured five wards. The Congress failed to win in any ward in the two regions. In Gorakhpur, the SP won 19 of 68 wards, the BJP won 20, the

Even as the BJP and the SP claimed victory in the panchayat election, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday congratulated the victorious party candidates and thanked the voters for supporting the BJP candidates. In a tweet, Yogi called upon the victorious candidates and people to assist the administration in fighting the Covid pandemic. They should follow the Covid guidelines and corona curfew protocol, he said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said the ruling BJP was a sinking ship. The results of the panchayat elections clearly showed that BJP would face defeat in the 2022 assembly elections, he said.

The BSP that won merely 19 seats in the 2017 assembly elections also made a comeback in its strongholds of Saharanpur (western UP), Mau (eastern UP), Amroha (western UP), Ghaziabad (western UP), Bhadohi (eastern UP) and Ambedkar Nagar (eastern UP) by bagging the maximum number of the zila panchayat wards there.

BSP chief Mayawati has directed the party leaders and workers to begin preparations for the assembly election.

UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev, however, said the party had done well in the polls.BSP legislative party leader Lalji Verma dismissed BJP claims of having done well in these rural polls.

“I would have agreed that they did well had they announced their candidates for block pramukh, zila panchayat and block development council. This they didn’t do. The rest is immaterial for the BJP is currently the ruling party,” Verma said.