UP Civic Poll Results: Early Gains For BJP In Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s First Major Test

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday established early gains in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls as counting of votes was in progress for all the 652 urban local bodies.

For the mayoral elections, the BJP forged ahead on almost all the 16 seats from where trends were available after an hour of counting.

BJP’s mayor candidates were leading in Meerut, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Gorakhpur as per initial trends. Counting of ballots polled in three phases on 22, 26 and 29 November was on under tight security cover and CCTV surveillance at 334 centres at district and tehsil headquarters, the state election commission said.

Central paramilitary forces have been deployed around the counting centres. Arrangements have also been made for web casting of the counting process. The final results are expected by this evening.

Results will be communicated to the candidates through SMS on their registered mobile numbers. Official sources said no procession would be allowed during the counting process and following the announcement of the results.

Polling was held for 16 Nagar Nigams, 198 Nagar Palika Parishads and 438 Nagar Panchayats with an average turnout of all the three phases estimated at 52.5 per cent of the 3.32 crore voters.

The Yogi Adityanath government, soon after assuming office in March, had constituted two municipal corporations of Ayodhya and Vrindavan-Mathura.

In 2012, BJP had a mayor in 12 municipal corporations. The Yogi Adityanath government, after assuming office, constituted two municipal corporations of Ayodhya and Vrindavan-Mathura.

The polling percentage of the third phase on 29 November in 26 districts of the state witnessed a voter turnout of 53 per cent. The previous two phases of polling on 22 and 26 November had recorded a turnout of 52.59 and 49.3 respectively taking the average of all the three phases to 52.5 per cent.

The overall percentage recorded an improvement from 46.2 per cent in 2012 to 52.5 per cent this time. The election campaign generated a lot of political heat with the ruling BJP leaving nothing to chance.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath criss-crossed the state to woo voters in the name of development, while opposition Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress campaigns were comparatively low key.

Both SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati did not campaign for their candidates. (PTI)