The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) claimed victory again at local panchayat elections. On Saturday, elections were held for the post of panchayat heads in 835 blocks of Uttar Pradesh and BJP won more than 85 percent of the seats.
BJP had already won 343 seats of these 835 unopposed on Thursday, the day of nomination. The polling for the remaining 565 seats was held on Saturday which saw unruly scene and large scale violence in mainly 17 districts of the states. At many places the workers of ruling party and opposition clashed and pelted stones. Police had to resort to lathi charge at several places.
In the evening, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state BJP president Swatantra Deo Singh claimed that panchayat elections were conducted in a peaceful manner.
The Samajwadi Party has ridiculed the claims of BJP and said that it would lodge strong protest in the days to come. The Samajwadi Party has announced to stage state wide demonstration on July 15 and memorandum would be submitted to the election commission. At many place the opposition party workers staged dharna in protest against the role of the administration.
Scribe Beaten By IAS Officer
In Unnao district a journalist of TV channel was severely beaten while he was covering the clash between BJP-SP workers outside the polling centre. An IAS officer Divanshu Patel posted as Chief Development Officer (CDO) in Unnao himself roughed up the scribe in front of hundreds of people. After this incident dozens of journalists in the district staged dharna and blocked roads. It may be mentioned that few days back a similar incident had occurred in Kannauj district during the Zila Panchayat chairperson elections. A TV Journalist in Kannauj was assaulted by the worker of ruling party in front of police.
Ruckus, Lathicharge, Clashes At Many Places
In Etawah district, the supporters of BJP legislator Sarita Bhadauria slapped SP Prashant Kumar and fired several rounds of bullets. In Barabanki district, the six people were injured during clash between SP-BJP workers. In Amroha police had to resort to lathi charge after SP-BJP workers clashed.
In Sitapur district police recovered large cache of weapons from the vehicle of the supporters of BJP candidate. In Ferozabad, a rifle and a pistol was recovered from the vehicle of one candidate. In Hamirpur and Siddharthnagar, BJP workers attacked SP candidates and damaged their vehicles. In western UP, clashes and stone pelting incidents were reported at many places and outside polling centres.
All Is Well Claimed CM & State BJP Chief
On late Saturday evening, a visibly happy chief minister Yogi Adityanath and state BJP chief Swatantra Deo Singh appeared before media and claimed that panchayat elections in UP were conducted peacefully. Both claimed that on 85 percent of seats in Panchayat the BJP candidates have won. Yogi said that in Zila Panchayat chief election BJP had contested on 73 out of 75 seats and won 66 of them. Similarly in block chiefs elections the party is likely to win more than 635 seats of the total 826. He said that it happened due to the foolproof planning of party. The even thanked the state administration of the peaceful conduct of polls.
