As the stage is set for polling in the second phase of urban bodies poll in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is facing a tough challenge at many places. Rebels within the party and the strong candidates from opposition at many minority dominated seats have been posing threat to BJP.
95 council and 268 town areas to go for polls on May 11
Seven municipal corporations, 95 council and 268 town areas would go for polls on Thursday. These included municipal corporations of Meerut, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Ayodhya, Kanpur, Aligarh and Shahjahanpur. In the previous urban bodies elections of 2017 BJP had lost in Aligarh while it managed to win with a slender margin in Meerut and Bareilly.
Tough challenge for BJP in Ayodhya
In Ayodhya municipal corporation, BJP is facing a challenge from its rebels while in Kanpur, factions of its workers have been opposing the official party nominee. Among the municipal corporations going for polls on Thursday, minority votes play a major role in Aligarh, Bareilly, Meerut and Kanpur. Sensing this UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as well as all the senior party leaders have toiled hard during campaigning in these corporations.
SP, RLD alliance
The main opposition Samajwadi Party has forged an alliance with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and firebrand Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Ravan’s Azad Samaj Party (ASP) in these urban bodies’ elections. SP has been posing a tough challenge to BJP in Aligarh, Meerut, Bareilly and Ayodhya where Akhilesh Yadav as well as the top leaders of alliance parties have addressed a series of meetings.
The Special Director General (DG), Law & order of UP, Prashant Kumar informed that arrangements have been made for 38 districts going for poll in the second phase of urban bodies elections. He said that 76 companies and two platoons of PAC and 35 companies of central forces have been deployed in the districts going for polls on Thursday.
