The ruling Samajwadi Party on Monday suffered a jolt in pockets of UP, with many relatives of ministers and senior leaders losing in the zila panchayat polls, while BJP-supported candidates won only in eight of the 48 seats in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency.
As ballots cast in the four-phase polling were counted on Monday, the Opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) emerged as the surprise front-runner in the elections with most of the candidates it supported, registering victory.
In Varanasi’s Jayapur, the village adopted by Modi, BJP candidate Arun Singh was defeated by BSP’s Ramesh Tiwari. The SP claimed to have won 25 seats in Varanasi district, while the Congress won two, BSP three, BJP ally Apna Dal four and Independents six. In the last elections, the BJP had won three seats. The panchayat polls are not contested on party symbols and major parties chose not to officially announce the candidates it had endorsed.
Polling was held for 3,112 posts of district panchayats and 77,576 membership post in block panchayats and counting was done at 819 block headquarters amid tight security. BJP, which had supported candidates in zila panchayat and kshetra panchayat polls for the first time, could not make a significant impact.