The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party has called the BJP’s win in the U.P. civic polls a result of rigged EVMs and misuse of State machinery.
While BSP chief Mayawati alleged that there was “rigging and fraud” in the vote “counting”. .
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP had won handsomely only in places where EVMs were used, he said.
“The BJP has only won 15% seats in ballot paper areas and 46% in EVM areas,” Mr. Yadav said on Twitter, without any specific examples. Voting for the 16 mayor posts and 1,300 municipal corporation wards was done through EVMs while ballot papers were used in the Nagar Palika Parishad and Nagar Panchayat elections, the State Election Commission confirmed.
While the BJP had a big victory in the cities, where it has been traditionally dominant, winning 14 out of 16 mayor posts and 596 out of 1300 municipal corporations, in the municipal council and town panchayats its victory was of a lesser magnitude, even though it soared over its political rivals.
The BJP won 70 out of 198 Nagar Palika Parishad chairman posts and 922 out of 5,261 members, 100 out of 438 Nagar Panchayat chairpersons and 664 out of 5,434 members.
The independent candidates won the largest chunk of seats in the Nagar Palika (3395 members and 44 chairmen) and Nagar Panchayat (3891 members and 184 chairmen).
The overall vote percentage of the independents in all three local bodies was 20.4, the second best after the BJP’s 30.8, while the SP had 18, the BSP 14 and the Congress 10. Overall, the BJP received 54.7 lakh votes, the SP 31.9 lakh, the BSP 25.4 lakh, the Congress 17.6 lakh and the independents 36.6 lakh, as per the State Election Commission data.
While the BSP secured two mayor seats, Aligarh and Meerut, the SP and the Congress scored a blank in the municipal corporation. The SP, however, secured the second position overall as it won 202 corporation wards, 45 Nagar Palika Parishad chairman seats and 83 Nagar Panchayat Chairman posts. It also got 477 Nagar Palika members and 453 Nagar Panchayat members.
On the allegations made by the SP and the BSP, Ved Prakash Verma, Additional Election Commissioner, U.P., told The Hindu : “Anybody claiming anything should come out with proof. It is difficult to comment on such kind of statements.”
