Wining 10 out of the 12 mayoral seats in the nagar nigam, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh has swelled up with confidence and pride but a look at the detailed results shows that the party is far from the comeback trail in the state.
The results of the local bodies elections , released a day ago by the state Election Commission, shows that apart from the mayoral seats, the BJP’s performance in the local bodies’ poll has been far from satisfactory.
Out of the 186 nagar palika parishads, the BJP has managed to win merely 41 whereas the Congress has on 21 and other small parties have got 13 seats. Independents have won 111 out of the 186 seats in nagar palika parishads. The BJP fared even worse in the nagar panchayats where it could register a win on only 86 seats of the total of 586 seats and non-BJP candidates won on the remaining 500 seats. Independents, incidentally, won on 447 seats in nagar panchayats. This means that the BJP continues to lose ground in the semi-urban and rural areas and has mainly benefited in urban centres by the absence of SP and BSP — the two main players in UP politics.
While admitting that there is little to rejoice about in the results, a senior BJP leader said, “We agree that we have not done exceedingly well and the results of the mayoral polls are a saving grace for us, but you cannot deny that this win has boosted the morale of party workers to great extent. The results prove that our vote bank is intact but we have to mobilise it with our own effort. If our leaders sweep aside personal difference and work in a cohesive manner, we can easily regain lost ground.”
Senior SP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, meanwhile, said, “The BJP is living in a fool’s paradise. They won the mayoral polls because we did not participate in the local bodies’ elections. Had the SP entered the contest on its symbol, the BJP would have gone the Congress way. The LS elections will, once again, prove that the BJP — like the Congress — is a spent force.”