Lucknow: The bugle has been blown for the municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh with the State Election Commission announcing the dates on Friday evening. The three-phase polls will be a litmus test for the Yogi Adityanath government as it will be the first elections since the BJP romped to victory in UP.
"Twenty-four districts will go to polls on November 22, 25 districts on November 26, and 26 districts on November 29," State Election Commissioner SK Agarwal said. Counting of votes will take place on December 1.
For Adityanath, it would be more of a prestige issue than just winning. The BJP's massive win in the Assembly polls means the expectations will be high.
Although the municipal councils and gram panchayats are occupied by the independent candidates, this time the BJP's challenge is to maintain popularity by winning in small town bodies. Adityanath will also be expected to win the four new municipal corporations.
A win for the BJP will prove that it still remains the party on an upward trajectory.
In the previous municipal elections, 10 of the 12 municipal bodies were won by BJP candidates, two were captured by BSP and SP supported candidates. But with BSP supported Allahabad Mayor switching to BJP, the total in favour of BJP is now 11. Now, there is only SP supported mayor in Bareilly.
In municipal council seats, BJP had won 42 out of 194, while 130 seats were won by independent candidates. Similarly, out of 423 nagar panchayat seats, BJP had bagged 36, while independent candidates had won 352 seats.
Four new municipal corporations have been added now and the total corporations going to polls are 16. The four new municipal corporations are Saharanpur, Ferozabad, Ayodhya and Vrindavan.
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