BJP wins big in UP local body elections, setback for Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow : In a major setback to Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party registered a landslide victory in local body polls. The BJP took 67 seats in the zila panchayat chairperson election where 75 seats were at stake. Akhilesh Yadav’s party could only manage five seats and rest seats were won by the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Jansatta Dal and an independent candidate won a seat each.

Comparing to 2016, in the same election in 2016, Samajwadi Party had won 60 of the 75 seats. 

In other reports, Samajwadi Party workers held a street protest on Saturday alleging fraud in the local body election in Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad. The police moved them away from the streets.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about the win: "The glorious victory of BJP in the UP District Panchayat elections is the blessing given by the people for development, public service and rule of law. The credit for this goes to the policies of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the tireless hard work of the party workers."

"The BJP has won 67 out of 75 district panchayat chairperson seats. We will win 2022 assembly elections also," UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh told news agency ANI.

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party did not fight the local body polls.