Video Producer: Maaz Hasan
Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma
The Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh with a thumping majority, but it lost the 2021 Panchayat polls in the state in its own backyard.
Usually, the party that wins the Assembly elections scores high in Panchayat polls as well but it didn’t happen in 2021. Considered as the semi-final to the 2022 Assembly polls, these results have given strong signals to the ruling BJP government.
BJP Lost in Yogi Adityanath’s Bastion
Purvanchal in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which consists of districts like Gorakhpur and Varanasi, is considered Yogi Adityanath’s stronghold. In Varanasi, which is also PM Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, BJP managed to get only seven seats out of 40. On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi party bagged 15 seats.
In Gorakhpur, BJP got 20 out of the total 68 seats, while Samajwadi Party bagged the major seats in the neighbouring districts, like Maharajganj, Siddharth Nagar, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh, Ballia and Ghazipur.
Major Jolts for BJP In Ayodhya-Mathura-Kashi
The Ayodhya-Mathura-Kashi belt is considered BJP’s fortress. In Ayodhya, BJP managed to win only eight out of 40 seats, while 18 seats went to Samajwadi Party.
In Mathura, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party won the highest number of seats – 13 out of 33. BJP was second with eight seats along with Rashtriya Lok Dal. In Lucknow, BJP only managed to get 3 wards out of 25.
Voters Angry Over COVID-Crisis Management?
COVID could be one of the biggest reasons for BJP loss in the Panchayat polls. While people struggle to get oxygen, hospital beds, and medicine in the state, the government continues to claim that everything is under control. This may not have gone down well with the citizens.
Hope for the Opposition?
Four years ago when the Assembly elections were held in UP, the opposition parties were totally decimated. With the results of panchayat poll results parties like BSP, Congress, and RLD that had vanished can hope to perform well in the Assembly elections due next year.
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