The Samajwadi Party (SP) is surging ahead in the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls
LUCKNOW/AGRA: The Samajwadi Party (SP) is surging ahead in the Uttar Pradesh panchayat polls, considered the bellwether of the high-stakes assembly polls next year, with counting trends indicating that SP-supported candidates were frontrunners in 747 zila panchayat wards, while BJP-backed nominees were leading or have won 666 seats.
This has led to BJP scrambling to open back-channel negotiations with Independents who have won or are leading in 3,050 zila panchayat wards to seize control over the top tier of rural local bodies.
Top sources in BJP said, the party is trying to reach out to 1,238 Independent candidates to wrest maximum posts of zila panchayat chairpersons, which would be held through indirect election.
Despite having suffered severe reverses in the panchayat elections, the mood in the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is upbeat.The party, which lacks the numbers, is now confident of getting its members elected as zila panchayat chairpersons with the help .
Political observers say that the BJP has the power to leverage support of independent candidates and will manage to get their people elected.
AGRA: Despite being in power for the past four years and its spectacular performance in Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) faced a major setback in panchayat polls as it failed to garner majority seats in Mathura, Mainpuri and Aligarh.
The local body polls were held less than a year before the assembly elections are scheduled in the state.
The ongoing farmers’ protests and the shoddy handling of the Covid crisis during the past month could have contributed to BJP’s debacles, say political experts.