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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW, AUGUST 6: By winning as many as 22 out of 55 posts of district panchayat presidents in Uttar Pradesh, results for which were available till late this evening, the BJP and allies have proved that things may not be as bad for them as the earlier elections indicated.
While BJP won 18 seats, its allies won four. Samajwadi Party bagged 20 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party five, Rashtriya Kranti Party led by former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh two and independents won six. The BJP had won 12 seats and SP 48 while BSP had drawn a blank in last elections held in 1995 under SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Chief Ministership.
But, BJP’s party was marred by its defeat in Pilibhit to an independent candidate Gurdayal Singh, propped up by Union Minister of State for Social Justice, Maneka Gandhi, who represents Pilibhit in Lok Sabha.
Gurdayal managed to enlist support of all the 17 non-BJP district panchayat members including three belonging to BJP’s bete noire, Kalyan Singh’s RKP to defeat BJP’s Budhsen Varma who got only four votes, all from his own party members.
The BJP had a written agreement with Maneka prior to panchayat polls as per which BJP contested 9 out of 21 district members seats, leaving remaining 12 for her. Both won four each, BJP legislator from Pilibhit Bal Krishna Gupta told The Indian Express recently adding that BJP was supposed to field candidate for district panchayat chief’s post.
In protest against breach of agreement by Maneka, all eight members of the joint coordination committee she had formed with the BJP in Pilibhit, are learnt to have resigned.
By emerging victorious in 22 districts, both the Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta and state party president Om Prakash Singh seem to have consolidated their respective positions. The results seem to have dampaned the spirit of other contenders including Ramapati Ram Tripathi and Surjit Singh Dung.
The seats won by the BJP included Sultanpur where Sanjay Singh’s wifeAmita Singh has been declared elected by five votes besides Sitapur, Agra, Bareilli, Shahjahanputr, Chitrakoot, Sonebhadra, Lalitpur, Maharajganj, Banda, Allahabad, Meerut, Balrampur, Lakhimpur Kheri and Jalaun.
The seats won by Samajwadi party are Faizabad, Ferozabad, Auraiyya, Hamirpur, Varanarasi, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Deoria, Bahraich, Lucknow, Badaun, Mirzapur, Baghpat and Bhadohi.
The RKP has won the Aligarh and Kannauj seats while the BSP has corneredBallia, Ambedkar Nagar, Rae Bareilly, Hathras and Sant Kabir Nagar.
Elections for district panchayat chief were held in 70 districts. Four districts panchayat presidents were declared elected unopposed. The Samajwadi Party had fielded 49 candidates while the BJP had put up 37 and the Congress only six.
