The upcoming UP local bodies polls which will be a true test for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his party. This will be the first direct election after Yogi assumed power in the state. This will be a test of approval of Yogi government's measures like closure of illegal abattoirs, anti-romeo squad, and reforms introduced in power, education and agriculture sectors. The Election Commission is likely to come out with the notification in this regard this week.
The BJP had won 10 out of 12 mayoral seats in 2012 local bodies polls. This time 16 municipal corporations, 198 nagara palika parishads and 439 nagar panchayats in the state will go to polls. A drubbing in these polls will not only affect Yogi’s popularity adversely but it will have an impact on 2019 Lok Sabha polls, too.
According to party insiders, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned. It has assigned two senior leaders for each municipal corporation to ensure the victory of its candidate. In every district and major cities, three senior party leaders will be deployed to fine tune poll preparations. The civic bodies polls will also test leadership qualities of newly appointed state party head Mahendra Nath Pandey too. The issue of local bodies polls was seriously discussed at the party’s state executive meet held in Kanpur recently.
BJP state spokesperson Chandra Mohan said that party leaders and cadres have been entrusted with different tasks like fine tuning organisational structure and reaching out to as many voters as possible to mould opinion in party’s favour. Interestingly in this local bodies polls there would be no alliance between the Congress and the SP (Samajwadi party). The SP national president Akhilesh Yadav has already indicated that SP would go alone this time. The Congress and the SP had forged an alliance in the 2017 UP assembly polls and both fared very badly.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had earlier ruled out any alliance with the Samajwadi party.
According to BJP spokesperson spokesperson Dilip Srivastava, the party cadres have been informing the voters in every part of the state about the development works done by Yogi government in the state in the past six months. “We are confident the party will do well in polls,” Srivastava said.
The Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up to contest these polls.
"We will contest from wherever we feel we have a strong organisational base," AAP leader Sanjay Singh said. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party had not contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and instead diverted all its resources to focus on Punjab. The AAP has already released its first list of 19 candidates for the Lucknow Municipal Corporation election. According to a release issued by the party, Priyanka Maheshwari is its nominee for the post of Lucknow mayor.
There has been no word from the BSP yet on whether the party will throw its hat in the ring.
Usually, the Mayawati-led party stays away from by-polls, but with the scenario different this time, nothing could be said right now, party insiders said.
- with inputs from PTI
