Even as Samajwadi Party (SP) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are locked in a political slugfest over alleged intimidation and misuse of official machinery for preventing Opposition candidates from filing nomination papers for the post of chairman of district panchayats, the State Election Commission declared the results of 22 districts, wherein all candidates were declared elected unopposed and include 21 of the BJP and one from the SP.

Elections for the post of chairpersons of district panchayats in the rest of the 53 districts will be held on July 3 and counting of votes will be taken up the same day at 3 pm.  Tuesday was the last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers. The districts where 21 candidates of the BJP were declared elected unopposed due to lone candidature, are  Saharanpur, Bahraich, Chitrakoot, Agra, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Moradabad, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Banda, Shravasti,  Balrampur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Mau, Varanasi, Pilibhit , Shahjahanpur.

However, Etawah was the lone district where a Samajwadi Party candidate was declared elected unopposed.

In Pilibhit, an interesting drama was witnessed as Samajwadi Party candidate Swami Prvaktanand withdrew his nomination paving the way for the victory of BJP candidate Dr Daljit Kaur. The former had recently defected from the BJP.

In Baghpat, Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate withdrew her nomination papers thus paving the way for the victory of the lone BJP candidate in the fray. The State Election Commission has however not confirmed the result and has sought a report from the district magistrate of Baghpat.

In Gorakhpur, former UP Chief Minister Vir Bahadur Singh’s daughter-in-law and Independent MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh’s wife Sadhna Singh was elected unopposed.  The State Election Commission is yet to confirm the result.

In Shahjahanpur, Mamta Yadav of the BJP was also elected unopposed as the SP candidate defected to the BJP. In Lakhimpur Kheri, the independent candidate withdrew his papers after which both the BJP and SP claimed that their candidate would win the seat. In Bareilly also, the SP and BJP were locked in a close contest as the SP claimed the support of 26 district panchayat members while the BJP has only 14 members and a total of 31 votes are needed for winning the elections.

In Budaun, the SP and BJP are in a direct contest as independent candidate Aishrya Yadav, the daughter of district SP chief, withdrew from the contest.

In Prayagraj, Samajwadi Party suffered a setback as the police intercepted the vehicle of SP MLC Mansingh Yadav and seized Rs 40 lakh in cash. The cash was allegedly for distribution among district panchayat members. The SP MLC, however, denied the police claims saying that the money belonged to his business enterprises.