The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party is seriously mulling the idea of not contesting the local bodies which will now be held on party symbols.
The Allahabad high court, on Thursday, had struck down the Mayawati’s government’s controversial decision to hold partyless civic polls.
A senior official in the chief minister’s secretariat said that the state government was preparing to challenge the high court’s order in the apex court.
“We have asked our legal department to examine the high court’s ruling in detail and give their opinion regarding challenging the same in the Supreme Court,” he said.
Civic polls in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held in October-November this year.
A senior BSP minister, on the other hand, said that the party could stay away from the civic polls if it did not get respite from the apex court. “No decision has been taken on this issue so far but Mayawati ji wants us to concentrate all our energies on the assembly elections now. It is because of this that we have decided not to contest any by-polls either. Besides, when the civic elections will be held later this year, Assembly elections will also be round the corner and the party leadership does not want the cadre to get distracted by any other activity,” the minister said.
The BSP, apparently, does not wish to contest the civic polls because it is not yet sure of getting positive results. The party does not have significant presence in the urban areas.