UP Civic Body Polls: BJP Performed Poorly Even in Modi, Yogi Constituencies

Of 5,434 seats of Nagar Panchayats in the just concluded civic body polls in India’s largest state, the saffron party won only 664 seats, that is, just 12% of the total seats

Caravan News

LUCKNOW — As soon as the results of Uttar Pradesh mayoral elections were declared on Saturday, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party went to town with ‘victory march’, without waiting for the results of five other tiers of local bodies. The party and its ‘media partners’ rushed to claim it had “swept” the civic body elections in India’s most populated state. But as the dust of the ‘victory march’ settled down, a startling and unpleasant picture emerged for the saffron party.

Far from sweeping the polls, its result tally has been shorter than that of the rest in the entire state – even in the high-profile constituencies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Compared to Ayodhya, the party did poorly in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of PM Modi, and Gorakhpur, the fiefdom of CM Yogi. While the party won 50% of seats in Ayodhya, it won 43.33% of seats in Varanasi and 38.57% in Gorakhpur.

The Varanasi Municipal Corporation has 90 wards. Results have been declared for 89 Wards and the BJP has only won 39 seats. Congress could not do well in Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi, but has won 21 seats in Modi’s Varanasi. While Mulayam-Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has won 14 seats, independents candidates have won 13.

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BJP performed even poorer in Gorakhpur. In the 70-ward Municipal Corporation, it could win only 27 seats. Both Samajwadi Party and independents have won 18 seats each. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party won 5 seats and Congress 2 seats. Even in the Ward where Yogi had cast his own vote, BJP was defeated by an Independent candidate. Interestingly, the winner happens to be a Muslim woman.

Indeed, Muslim candidates have done well in both Varanasi and Gorakhpur. 20 Muslims won in Varanasi and 15 in Gorakhpur.

BJP has won Mayor’s seats in both districts. In all, it won 14 out of 16 mayoral seats in the state – indeed an impressive victory. But its performance in five other bodies has been far from spectacular, rather very poor in the lowest tier of civic bodies – that is Nagar Panchayats. Of 5,434 seats of Nagar Panchayats in the state, the party won only 664 seats, that is just 12% of the total seats.

Source: Uttar Pradesh Election Commission