BJP scores mega victory in Agra Municipal Corporation, routs Samajwadi Party, Congress

The future of 1,502 candidates on 100 municipal wards in the Agra municipal elections was unveiled today, with the BJP scoring the winning stroke with its candidate Naveen Jain being elected as Agra's mayor, defeating the BSP candidate Digamber Singh Dhakrey by more than 74,000 votes.

There were a total of 13 candidates in the fray for the post of Agra mayor, out of which, the main contest remained between the BJP and the BSP candidates, with Dhakrey giving a tough fight to Jain, despite being a new entrant in electoral politics.

Out of 717 candidates contesting for posts of corporators in the 100 municipal wards of Agra, 64 seats were won by BJP candidates, giving the party a clear majority in the corporation.

BSP got 15 seats while the Samajwadi Party, which had almost 40 seats in the previous municipality, had to remain satisfied with just six seats. Congress was reduced to just two seats and AAP could not win even a single one.

BJP has had five mayors in Agra till now and adding Jain to that, the tally has grown to six mayors.

Rameshkant Lavania won the first election from the BJP in 1988, becoming the first mayor of Agra. In 1993, Babyrani Maurya became the next BJP mayor by 17,000-vote difference, Kishorilal Mahore, again from the BJP, won by 9,000 votes in 1998, Anjula Singh Mahore won on a BJP ticket in 2006, Indrajit Singh Arya became the fifth BJP mayor in 2012 and now, Jain has become the sixth consecutive mayor of Agra from the BJP.

Three BJP mayors, Kishorilal Mahore, Anjula Singh Mahore and Indrajit Singh Arya had defected to the Samajwadi Party after winning the elections, giving a sharp blow to the BJP's dominance in the municipal corporation. However, this time, the BJP is feeling quite secure as the Samajwadi Party has been almost wiped out from the corporation and besides, Jain has been a loyal BJP worker ever since he joined politics.

Talking to India Today after being declared the winning candidate, Naveen Jain said that PM Modi's slogan 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' will be made the motto of his tenure and he will implement a comprehensive development plan of Agra, bringing clean drinking water to the entire population of the city. He said that he will work for tourism development in Agra as this city was an international tourist destination and his focus will be on 'Clean Agra, Green Agra'.

Commenting on the electoral campaign that resulted in Jain's victory, the Samajwadi Party city president Raisuddin said that the BJP misused its power to ensure the victory of its candidates on most seats. He said that the way the entire UP cabinet, including the chief minister, were trying to influence the elections by repeatedly visiting the city, it was clear that the BJP was ready to play a dirty game in order to win.

Raisuddin said that in the past 25 years, the BJP has had five mayors in the city but they could not do any development here. Whatever development happened, it was during the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav as UP Chief Minister who took a personal interest in the city's development.

Asked about his opinion on Jain winning the elections as the sixth BJP mayor of Agra, Raisuddin laughed and said that the BJP already had 9 MLAs and 2 MPs in Agra and for the past 25 years it had been in control of the municipal corporation of the city, if it could not do anything in 25 years, it was foolish to expect anything different from them now.

Out of four municipal corporations in Agra division, the BJP captured three mayoral seats - Agra, Mathura, and Firozabad, while the Bahujan Samaj Party has captured the Aligarh seat.