Civic polls in Uttar Pradesh: Yogi Adityanath begins campaign early as BJP aims to better 2017 performance
The BJP has planned meets featuring chief minister Yogi Adityanath in all the 17 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has hit the ground running for the civic polls in Uttar Pradesh,holding ‘Prabuddh Jan Sammelans (intellectual meets)’ in major municipal corporations in the state.
The civic polls are the last test of the urban pulse ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP has planned meets featuring Adityanath in all the 17 municipal corporations. The chief minister has attended meets in about 10 of them, including two in Shahjahanpur and Bareilly, on Wednesday.
After making announcements regarding various projects, Yogi Adityanath has also been interacting with the masses and cautioning cadres against complacency.
In Shahjahanpur, Adityanath announced projects worth ₹308 crore and reminded the gathering at Prabuddh Jan Sammelan about the “benefits of the double engine government.”
The two main players – the ruling BJP and opposition Samajwadi Party – have already begun screening candidates for mayoral posts, nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats.
Along with mainstream political players active in U.P. for long, others who have got their symbols reserved for the civic polls include Bihar-based parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Janata Dal (United), CPI (ML), Samata Party, Delhi and Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), All India Forward Bloc, Hyderabad-based AIMIM and the Indian Union Muslim League. West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is also said to be mulling over the prospect of contesting these polls.
“Going by the notification for reserved symbols for registered parties as well as free symbols for unregistered parties and independents by the state election commission, it appears that a record number of political parties are planning to test waters in urban local body polls. That is why the BJP appears to have drafted their star campaigner and CM Yogi Adityanath early into the campaign,” said AP Tiwari, a political analyst.
Uttar Pradesh now has 762 urban local bodies, 109 more than in 2017, including 17 mayoral seats, 200 nagar palika parishads and 545 nagar panchayats. The state government has already announced the reservation for these, setting the stage for the likely announcement of polls now.
“In these meets, the CM has already announced about 2500 projects, worth nearly ₹19,000 crore. These projects are meant for the entire 4.85 crore population that resides in 762 urban local bodies,” a senior leader said. Once the polls are announced, Adityanath would again campaign, especially in mayoral seats like Meerut and Aligarh, where BJP had lost in 2017, the leader added.
“We want to better our 2017 record and we are confident of achieving it too,” said U.P. BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary.
“We have started screening candidates and asking for names right down to the ward level. We will contest all the seats on our symbol,” a senior BJP leader said.
In 2017, the BJP won 14 of the 16 mayoral seats in municipal corporations, around 596 of the 1300 odd municipal corporation wards, around 70 of the 199 nagar palika parishad chairperson and about 100 of the 438 nagar panchayat chairperson posts.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won two mayoral posts while the Samajwadi Party (SP) claimed success in 202 wards, around 45 nagar palika parishads and 83 nagar panchayat chairman posts. The Congress, which was embarrassed even in its bastions of Rae Bareli and Amethi last time, is now “working to make an impression in these polls”.