The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates won 67 of 75 seats of the Uttar Pradesh zila panchayat chief, the voting for which was held on Saturday, reported news agency ANI. Samajwadi Party won five seats, Lok Dal and Jansatta Dal won one seat each. An independent candidate bagged one seat, it added.
UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said that the success of the party was due to the welfare policies initiated by its government and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
"The BJP+ (BJP and its allies) has won 67 out of 75 seats of zila panchayat chairpersons. For these unprecedented results, I thank the people of the state and hardworking party workers," he said in a Hindi tweet.
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya termed it as a "historic victory". "BJP has secured a historic victory in district panchayat chairperson elections. Samajwadi Party (SP) has depolyed their goondas & mafias to win these elections but they faced defeat. I am very happy. I thank district panchayat members," he said.
CM Yogi Adityanath congratulated the winners and said it was a result of PM Modi's welfare policies. This victory will give more strength to the Panchayati Raj system of India, he added.
The polling for the seats had begun at 11 am and continued till 3 pm.
The panchayat polls or those for district panchayat chiefs are not held on a party symbol but candidates enjoy the tacit support of various parties.
The districts where zila panchayat chairpersons won unopposed are Saharanpur, Bahraich, Etawah, Chitrakoot, Agra, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Moradabad, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Banda, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Mau, Varanasi, Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur.
Zila panchayat chiefs are elected from among the elected members of zila panchayats.
The four-phase panchayat polls concluded in the state last month.
