The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies registered massive victory in the elections of chairpersons district panchayat as the ruling combine won 67 seats out of a total 75 seats across the state.
The district panchayat elections proved to be a huge setback for the opposition Samajwadi Party as it could bag only five seats while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal scooped one in Baghpat and an independent romped home. The BJP also broke the SP's record of 63 district wins registered while Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of UP in 2016. Then the Samajwadi Party had won 60 of the 75 seats.
The SP candidates won in Sant Kabir Nagar, Ballia, Azamgarh and Etah whereas in Baghpat, their ally RLD won the seat. The SP also won the Etawah seat unopposed while independents won the prestigious Jaunpur and Pratapgarh districts.
On the other hand, candidates of the BJP and its allies won in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Hapur, Bijnor, Rampur, Sambhal, Bareilly, Budaun, Aligarh, Hathras, Kasganj, Mathura, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Kanpur Nagar, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Lucknow, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Amethi, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Ayodhya, Basti, Siddharthnagar , Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath congratulated the victorious candidates and wishing them success in public life, said, “The victory of the BJP candidates will ensure the strengthening of Panchayati Raj system in the country.’’
BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh also congratulated the party leaders and workers for the victory of party candidates and said that the popularity of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and hard work of the party cadre resulted in winning 67 of the 75 districts in the panchayat polls.
“It is just the beginning. The BJP will now continue in the same way in the coming Assembly polls to retain power," he said.
However, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary alleged that misuse of official machinery was the reason for the ruling party's victory.
In Mainpuri, the bastion of the SP and Lok Sabha constituency of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP won the election of district panchayat chairperson. Besides, BJP candidate Ranjana Chaudhary won in Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.
The BJP also wrested Rampur district, the Lok Sabha constituency of SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan where Khyaliram Lodhi of the BJP won the election defeating SP candidate Nasreen Jahan.
The SP had deputed leader of opposition Ramgovind Chaudhary to supervise the election. Chaudhary accused the administration of rigging the elections and sat on a dharna in front of Ambedkar Park along with party workers.
In Lucknow, BJP's Aarti Rawat won the election defeating Vijayalakshmi of Samajwadi Party by three votes while in Ambedkar Nagar, Shyam Sundar alias Sadhu Verma of the BJP won the election in Bahujan Samaj Party’s stronghold.
Elsewhere, in Ghazipur, Sapna Singh, who joined BJP on the day of nomination, won the election by 27 votes defeating Kusumlata of Samajwadi Party. Besides, BJP's Dr. Shefali Singh won in Moradabad and the ruling party’s Lalit Tanwar was elected unopposed in Amroha. In Unnao, BJP’s Shakun Singh was elected by defeating BJP rebel Arun Singh.
In Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of SP president Akhilesh Yadav, SP candidate Vijay Yadav, son of former minister and MLA Durga Prasad Yadav, won by securing 79 out of 84 votes. His rival Sanjay Nishad of BJP got only five votes.
Similarly in Ballia, SP candidate Anand Chaudhary, son of former minister Ambika Chaudhary, won the election with the support of the BSP. Anand Chaudhary polled 33 votes and defeated BJP candidate Supriya Chaudhary by nine votes.
Mamta Kishor, of RLD won the election by defeating the BJP candidate Babli Devi in Baghpat.
Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh-supported candidate Madhuri Patel won in Pratapgarh district. In Jaunpur, don-turned-politico Dhananjay Sigh's wife won the elections with the support of Apna Dal and BJP.
In Amethi, former Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi, BJP’s Rajesh Agrahari (owner of Rajesh Masala) won the election. In Shamli, BJP candidate Madhu Gurjar defeated RLD candidate Anjali by one vote.