 "UP local body polls: BJP 'lost miserably' in seats outside city, says SP")
The BJP "lost miserably" in seats located just outside city limits despite "adopting every trick" in the Uttar Pradesh urban local body elections, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday.
The BJP on Saturday registered wins on all 17 mayoral seats -- Varanasi, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Jhansi, Bareilly, Mathura-Vrindavan, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad, Agra, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Firozabad and Meerut.
It also won 813 of the 1,420 corporator seats while the opposition Samajwadi Party bagged 191 and the Bahujan Samaj Party 85.
In a tweet in Hindi, Yadav congratulated the victorious Samajwadi Party nominees and all the "other" candidates who won by fighting against the BJP.
"Moving a little out of the cities, the BJP lost miserably even after adopting every trick," he added.
According to the State Election Commission, the BJP won 191 (35.11 per cent) of the 544 posts of Nagar Panchayat chairpersons while Independent candidates bagged 195 (35.85 per cent). The Samajwadi Party won 78 posts while the Bahujan Samaj Party clinched victories in 37. The Congress won 14 seats.
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Independent candidates asserted themselves on the Nagar Panchayat members' seats as well, winning 4,824 of the 7,177 (67.21 per cent) available. The BJP won 1,403 seats followed by the Samajwadi Party with 485 and the Bahujan Samaj Party with 215. The Congress bagged 77 seats and the Rashtriya Lok Dal won 38.
The urban local body elections were held in two phases on May 4 and 11 to elect 17 mayors and 1,401 corporators. As many as 19 corporators were elected unopposed, the commission had said.
Voting was also held to elect 198 chairpersons and 5,260 members of Nagar Palika Parishads, 542 chairpersons of Nagar Panchayats and 7,104 members of Nagar Panchayats.