UP civic polls | BJP gets mayor posts in 7 cities: 10 points
The Uttar Pradesh civic polls - conducted in 652 urban local bodies - are widely considered to be Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's first major electoral test. Read on for an overview of the latest trends, and information on what to expect later.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's BJP won contests for mayoral seats in Ayodhya, Agra, Mathura, Jhansi, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where votes were being counted after a three-phase civic body election took place in 75 state districts last month.
Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, or BSP, won the mayoral seat in Aligarh.
These civic polls - conducted in 652 urban local bodies - were widely considered to be Yogi Adityanath's first major electoral test. Adityanath is a five-time MP from Gorakhpur, one of the districts that voted in the election. Another, Varanasi, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.
At a press conference this afternoon, Adityanath said this election would be an eye-opener for people comparing it with the upcoming Assembly poll in Gujarat.
Yeh chunav humko zimmedar banane ke liye hai. Yeh chunaav sabhi ki aankhen kholne wala raha aur jo log isse Gujarat se jod kar dekhte the unki aankhe bhi kholne wala raha: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath #UPCivicPolls2017 pic.twitter.com/2qnhChfm5U- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 1, 2017
Follow our live blog to get all the latest updates on the poll. For city-specific coverage, click on the links at the bottom of this page.
Here's what has happened so far, in ten points.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
- BJP candidates were leading in seats including Lucknow, Allahabad, and Ghaziabad.
- Reacting to initial trends, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said Uttar Pradesh voters had shown full faith in the BJP and its ideology, and discarded the SP (Samajwadi Party, led by former CM Akhilesh Yadav), the BSP and the Congress.
- Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the results of Uttar Pradesh civic polls reaffirmed people's support for the GST which has made doing business "easier" for traders.
- Jaitley also recalled his party's unprecedented win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls following the demonetisation decision and noted that it had swept "trading hubs" in UP to underline popular support to note ban. "Today's results (in UP) have only reaffirmed it," he said.
- The BSP's Mohammad Furkan defeated BJP's Rajiv Agrawal by 11,990 votes to claim the mayoral seat in Aligarh.
- The BSP, which has been on the sidelines of politics in the state ever since it lost power to SP in 2012 and lost two successive elections - 2014 general elections and the 2017 state assembly elections, contested the urban body polls for the first time on party symbol. This is being seen as a desperate attempt by BSP supremo Mayawati to stay relevant in the state, which she has ruled four times.
- Central paramilitary forces have been deployed around the counting centres. Arrangements have also been made for web casting of the counting process.
- The overall percentage recorded an improvement from 46.2 per cent in 2012 to 52.5 per cent this time.
- The final results are expected by this evening. Results will be communicated to the candidates through SMS on their registered mobile numbers.
- Official sources said no procession would be allowed during the counting process and following the announcement of the results.
(Inputs from agencies)
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