The counting of votes cast during the two phases of the urban local body polls and the bye-election to two assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Saturday. This is the penultimate test for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party and other players in Uttar Pradesh before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The counting of votes will start at 8 am on Sunday with officials saying most of the preparations have been completed.
To beat the heat, directions have been given to make cold water and ‘sharbat’ available at 353 counting centres across the state.
Urban Local Body Polls 2023
The ULB polls were held in two phases — on May 4 and May 11. The results will decide the fate of 83,378 candidates who are in the fray for 14,522 posts.
Out of the total 4.32 crore who were eligible to vote, only 53 per cent of voters exercised their franchise during the ULB polls, according to the Election Commission data.
Following the results, seventeen mayors and 1,401 corporators will be elected. As many as 19 corporators have already been elected unopposed.
Shahjahanpur will elect its mayor for the first time this year as the city became a municipal corporation in 2018, a year after the last civil polls were held in Uttar Pradesh.
Meerut and Aligarh had BSP mayors in 2017, while the BJP ruled the rest civic bodies.
The ULB polls will also elect 198 chairpersons and 5,260 members of nagar palika parishads. For Nagar panchayats, the fate of 542 chairpersons and 7,104 members will be decided.
During the campaign, senior leaders of various political parties visited different parts of the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak campaigned extensively for the BJP candidates. State BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and former Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma also held election meetings for party candidates.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held roadshows. Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav also campaigned for party candidates.
All Parties Remain Hopeful
UP BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpai claimed that the BJP is going to win all 17 mayor seats and will bag a lion’s share in the corporators’ category. The party will also perform extremely well in nagar palika parishads and Nagar panchayats, he said.
SP spokesperson Deepak Ranjan said the ULB polls “will spring up a surprise”.
“The cycle (SP’s election symbol) has covered a significant distance during the election, while the lotus (BJP’s symbol did not bloom,” Ranjan asserted.
UP Congress media convenor Ashok Singh too said the party’s performance in the election will surprise everyone.
Rashtriya Lok Dal spokesperson Ankur Saxena said his party’s performance will be “very good”.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Shekhar Dixit said the people have “blessed us in the civic polls, and the results will prove this”. He added that people have understood that AAP is the “only alternative” to the BJP.
Rajesh Srivastava, the spokesperson of the UP unit of the Apna Dal (Sonelal), exuded confidence that “both the candidates of the party will register emphatic wins in the assembly by-elections”.
Uttar Pradesh Bypolls
The bypolls were held in Suar assembly seat in Rampur district and Chhanbey (SC) in Mirzapur district on May 10. The Suar seat fell vacant in February following the disqualification of SP leader Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam Khan as an MLA after a Moradabad court sentenced him to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.
The Chhanbey seat fell vacant after the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February.
(With PTI inputs)
Comments
0 comment