UP Panchayat polls: BJP loses Ayodhya, Varanasi & Gorakhpur to SP; defeated in 2000+ seats

In a severe setback to the BJP, the party has lost key districts like - Varanasi, Mathura, Ayodhya, and Gorakhpur in the UP panchayat polls whose results have were declared late Tuesday night. While the rural polls are not fought on party symbols, most parties have backed specific candidates. As per the results, BJP had claimed victory in 900 of the 3030 Zila panchayat wards it contested, while SP claims to have won 1000 seats, BSP 300 seats, Congress and AAP bagged 70 seats each. This setback to BJP comes a year before the crucial UP polls.

BJP loses key UP districts in panchayat polls

As per reports, BJP was trumped by SP in districts like Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya in the Panchayat polls while Bhim Army has made inroads into BSP bastions -  Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor and Saharanpur. The biggest winner have been independent candidates of which 400 are reportedly in touch with BJP. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantradev Singh had said that in the three-tier panchayat election in the state, over 45,000 party-supported candidates have won the post of village pradhan, while more than 60,000 party-supported candidates have emerged victorious as members of kshetra panchayats

The counting of votes began Sunday morning at more than 825 centres across the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Over 8.69 lakh posts were up for grabs in these polls. Of these posts, more than 7.32 lakh seats were in the gram panchayat wards, 58,176 in the gram panchayats, 75,852 in the kshetra (block) panchayats and 3,050 in the zila panchayats. In all, there were over 12.89 lakh candidates in the poll fray, of which 3.19 lakh candidates won unopposed.

700 school staff died due to COVID

As per reports,  the Uttar Pradeshiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh has written to UP CM Adityanath and SEC, listing names of all the deceased who died due to contracting COVID-19 on poll duty, demanding to defer counting on May 2. While counting has not been deferred, the SEC asked district magistrates to ensure the setting up of medical health desks at the counting centres with the availability of medicines and the deployment of doctors. The SC has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to take into note the assurance given by the State Election Commission that necessary measures will take place at counting centres in terms of COVID guidelines.

The four-phase panchayat polls for around 850,000 local body seats were held between April 15 and 29. The Allahabad High Court had pulled up the Yogi govt over the deaths asking why action should not be taken against it for not enforcing Covid protocols. In reply, the state government has denied the allegations and said it has no proof that the teachers died during poll duty and maintained that it did not want to hold the panchayat elections, but was forced to conduct it before 30 April due to an HC order.