In 2017 poll results, a hint for BJP: Tough fight likely from SP & BSP

The 38 districts going to polls in the second phase are Meerut, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Pilibhit Hathras, Kasganj, Etah, Aligarh, Kanpur Nagar, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Chitrakoot, Banda, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki, Amethi, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Siddharth Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi and Mirzapur.

In the 2017 civic polls — held close on the heels of the UP Assembly elections in which the BJP had almost made a clean sweep — the BSP had defeated the BJP on two mayoral seats in Meerut and Aligarh. Both these seats are going to polls, along with five other mayoral seats, in the final phase.

In 2017, out of 95 nagar palika parishads, the BJP had won the maximum 37 seats of chairpersons, SP (18), BSP (14) and the Congress (3), but out of 211 nagar panchayats in these districts, the BJP won only 50 seats of chairperson whereas the SP finished very close by winning 43 seats, BSP (29) and the Congress (7).

In Ayodhya district, where the BJP was contesting on the plank of Ram Temple, even as the matter was sub judice, the SP had won all four civic body seats — one nagar palika and three nagar panchayats — and the saffron party couldn’t win even a single chairperson’s seat.

In the 2023 polls, however, the BJP finds itself on a strong footing with the ongoing construction of the Ram Temple. The party is highlighting this among its achievements in poll campaigns not only in the UP civic polls but also in the Karnataka Assembly elections.

Of the 38 districts going to polls on May 11, the saffron party could not win even a single seat of nagar palika chairperson in nine districts — Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Nagar, Banda, Chitrakoot, Ballia, Azamgarh, Mau and Ayodhya— in 2017, while the SP had failed to win any nagar palika chairperson seat in 17 districts, including Aligarh, Kannauj, Kanpur Dehat, Bhadohi, Sonbhadra, Mahoba, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Mau, Ballia, etc.

Likewise, the BJP had failed to win any of the nagar panchayat seats in eight districts in 2017, while the SP drew a blank in nagar panchayats in 16 districts, including in its bastions of Etawah and Kannauj.

Considering the significance of winning nagar palikas and nagar panchayats, apart from mayoral seats in nagar nigams, for the proper implementation of infrastructure development schemes of the central and the state governments, the BJP is going ahead with intensive campaigning even in nagar panchayats and nagar palikas in the state.

The ruling party had planned that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would campaign only for nagar nigams and his cabinet ministers for other local bodies, but the chief minister later campaigned for party candidates in nagar palikas and nagar panchayats as well. Adityanath has so far addressed public meetings in five such districts — Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Azamgarh, Mau and Sant Kabir Nagar — for the second phase, while in the first phase, he had addressed rallies in eight such districts of eastern and western UP. His deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak campaigned for the party in Etawah and Kannauj. Though the party’s Kannauj unit had demanded a visit by Adityanath, his programme has not yet been finalised.
BJP UP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary has also toured extensively across all districts.

“People in nagar palikas and nagar panchayats vote differently from electorates in nagar nigams. In nagar palikas and nagar panchayats, voters prefer candidates having personal contact with them, and hence, mostly Independents and smaller parties’ candidates win there. Also, voters turn out in large numbers to vote for their candidates,” said a BJP leader.

For SP candidates, party national president Akhilesh Yadav has, so far, campaigned only in Kannauj, among the 38 districts going to polls in this phase. Akhilesh is busy campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections and upon his return to UP on Sunday, he will have only two days for canvassing for the second phase.

In Etawah, his uncle and party national general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav has taken charge of canvassing. According to SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, Akhilesh is likely to campaign in western UP on May 8 and 9. The BSP, on the other hand, has given the responsibility of campaigning to its leaders at the state and district level.