Uttar Pradesh: BJP aims to win 60 of 75 panchayat prez posts with rebels & independents

After facing defeat in the UP panchayat polls, BJP is aiming to win the presidentship in 60 out of 75 district panchayats, report sources on Saturday. With the support of several independent and rebel candidates, BJP has allegedly planned to win most Zilla and kshetra panchayat chairs. Sources report that most MPs, MLAs and office-bearers will be present at election offices during the filing of nominations.

BJP strategises to win 60 of 75 district chairs

On Wednesday, Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the ruling BJP of using fear and greed to grab the posts of chairpersons of the zila and kshetra panchayats. "BJP is hell bent on insulting the public and democracy. The public has defeated the BJP in the panchayat elections, and so the BJP now is indulging in 'dhaandli' (fraud) to regain its lost dignity," said Yadav. He also alleged that the BJP is using the administration in every district to register fake cases against SP candidates and threatening them, urging Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel to intervene in this regard.

Nominations for district panchayat chairpersons will be filed at district election offices from 11 AM to 3 PM on Saturday. The State Election Commission has issued directions to maintain law and order while nomination was being filed by candidates. Polls for the chairpersons will be held from 3 July at 11 AM to 3 PM, after which counting of votes will be done.

UP panchayat results

In April, BJP managed to win 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 - where Yogi Adityanath is eyeing a second term. 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.

But UP lost 700 school staff due to COVID while on poll duty for UP Panchayat polls. On being pulled up by the Allahabad High Court, the state government 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. Later, the Uttar Pradesh govt announced a compensation of Rs 30 lakhs for 135 deceased polling staff, which was countered by HC saying 'atleast Rs 1 crore must be awarded as ex-gratia'. The 403-seat UP Assembly goes to polls in February 2022.