Setback for BJP in UP, Maharashtra civic body polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a major jolt in the civic body elections held in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. While the BJP bit the dust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, winning only eight of the 58 seats, in Maharashtra, the BJP, which fought alone, lost out to the Shiv Sena. Even the beleaguered Congress did better in Maharashtra, as it is likely to take control of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation. The highlight of the polls has been the comeback of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh, with the party outperforming the BJP and posing to tough challenge to the ruling Samajwadi Party.    

In Uttar Pradesh, the panchayat polls are being seen as a curtain raiser for the Assembly elections to be held 2017. The BSP was routed in the 2014 elections and it decided not to contest the subsequent bypolls in the state. The party won a majority in Agra, Azamgarh, and Ambedkar Nagar. The Samajwadi Party managed to retain its hold in several of the rural panchayat bodies.

The BJP’s rout in Varanasi and Lucknow speaks volumes of the undercurrent sweeping across the two states. The BJP won just four of the 28 seats in Lucknow, which is Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s constituency.

In Deoria, Union minister Kalraj Mishra’s constituency, the BJP managed to win only seven of the 56 zila panchayat seats. After the stupendous victory of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections (the BJP had bagged  71 out of the 80 seats), the saffron party was expecting to perform well. Even in Muzaffarnagar, where communal polarisation was at its peak, the BJP received a setback.

Significantly, rural polls are not fought on party symbols but most candidates are backed by political leaders.  

But it was a loss of face for the SP in certain ways, with prominent members of the Yadav clan, losing. Besides, state Cabinet Minister Mehboob Ali’s wife and son lost, while another minister Rampal Rajvanshi’s daughters were defeated in Sitapur. Minister Avdesh Prasad’s wife and son lost, the polls from Faizabad.  

The Congress’ performance in UP would upset the party leadership, as in party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s constituency, Amethi, the party drew a blank. Here, the SP bagged five and the BSP three seats. However, in Maharashtra, strained relations between the Shiv Sena and the BJP resulted in the two parties going it alone.

The Sena emerged as the largest party in Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC). This comes as a slap on the face of the BJP which went to the polls under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The Congress emerged the single largest party in Kolhapur. The Congress is confident that it can place its member as the mayor of the Kolhapur corporation with the support of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which bagged 15 seats. The Congress needs 41 seats to gain majority in the 80-seat corporation. The BJP could bag only 12 seats.

In UP

 

* BSP makes a comeback

* BJP loses 50 out of 58 seats in Varanasi, PM Modi's constituency

* BJP wins only four of the 28 seats in Lucknow, Home Minister Rajnath Singh's constituency

* Congress fails to bag a seat in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi's constituency

In Maharashtra

* Shiv Sena gains control of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC)

* Congress to stake claim to Kolhapur Municipal Corporation; in tie-up with NCP