With 26 districts to go polls on Wednesday — the third and final phase of state urban local body elections — the ruling BJP is likely to face a tough fight from Opposition nominees. Along with Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Firozabad and Jhansi municipal corporations, polling will be held in 152 nagar panchayats and 76 nagar palika parishads. Among the five municipalities, Congress’ decision to field former Union minister Pradeep Jain Aditya in Jhansi and resentment among BJP workers against party nominee Umesh Gautam in Bareilly have brought the contest closer at both places. In Jhansi, BJP has fielded RSS worker Ram Teerath Singhal and local leaders said Congress’ Pradeep Jain Aditya is likely to be a strong competitor. While BJP had defeated Congress in the 2012 mayoral elections, Jain had lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to BJP in Jhansi. In Bareilly, to allegedly quell discontent among party workers over the selection of Umesh Gautam as the mayoral candidate, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had not only held a rally and but also met the cadre recently. Sources said BJP had also sacked 22 workers on charges of indiscipline. Gautam had joined BJP during the Assembly polls earlier this year. He had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on a BSP ticket. The Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, has fielded two-term mayor I S Tomar from Bareilly, who had won last time as an Independent with SP’s support. With Union minister Santosh Gangawar and state ministers Rajesh Agarwal and Dharamapal Singh being from Bareilly, it is a high-profile municipality for the party. Firozabad, on the other hand, is set to elect its first mayor. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Firozabad had elected Akshay Yadav, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav’s son. While BJP had won 71 seats, Firozabad was one of the five Lok Sabha seats that SP had managed to win. Sources said there is resentment among a section of BJP workers against party nominee Nutan Rathore, the daughter of a BJP leader. “There will be a fight with SP because there are a large number of Yadav voters here. If Muslim votes get divided among Muslim candidates contesting on Congress and AIMIM tickets, it could help BJP,” said a local BJP leader. State Cabinet Minister S P Singh Baghel, who had lost the Lok Sabha seat to Akshay Yadav, is the MLA from Tundla seat in the district. Mayoral election will be held for the first time in Saharanpur as well, where locals said the fight is between BJP’s Sanjeev Walia and BSP nominee Haji Fazlur-Rehman. Over 2 lakh Muslim voters and around 80,000 Dalits would elect the mayor. Muslim voters will also set to play a significant role in mayoral election in Moradabad where BJP had won the last time, defeating the Peace Party candidate. Among other districts going to polls, while Rae Bareli is the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress national president Sonia Gandhi, BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey is the Chandauli MP and SP leader Dimple Yadav represents Kannauj.
