Lucknow: Despite being pushed to third spot in the recently held panchayat election in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has managed to get its 21 Zila Panchayat chiefs elected unopposed. The opposition parties have blamed BJP of misusing power. Samajwadi Party has accused that in several districts its candidates were not allowed to file nominations while those who managed to make it, are now being threatened by the administration and BJP leaders.
Rashtriya Lok Dal an ally of Samajwadi Party in the panchayat polls, alleged that its candidate in Bagpat district was in Rajasthan but her nomination was withdrawn by producing a fake person.
The elections for the post of Zila Panchayat chairpersons in 75 districts are on-going in UP. Tuesday was the last day for the withdrawal of nominations. The BJP has already managed to get its 17 candidates elected unopposed. On Tuesday, the opposition candidates in four more districts have withdrawn nominations paving way for unopposed election of BJP nominees.
It may be mentioned that nominations for the post of Zila Panchayat chiefs in UP were filed last week on Saturday. In Jhansi, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Gonda, Balrampur, Shravasti, Moradabad, Bulandshahar, Bijnore, Mau, Lalitpur, Bhadohi and Agra, the BJP candidates were elected unopposed as none other filed nomination. However, on Tuesday, the last date of nomination withdrawal, Samajwadi Party candidates in Behraich, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Bagpat decided to opt out. So far only one Samajwadi Party candidate Anshul Yadav has been elected unopposed in Etawah district against 21 of BJP.
It may be mentioned that in the elections maximum number of Zila Panchayat members elected were from either Samajwadi Party or independent and BJP was placed third in terms of numbers. However even after the humiliating defeat, the state BJP leaders had claimed that in maximum districts, its candidates would be elected as chairperson of Zila Panchayat. The Bahujan Samaj Party had decided not field its candidate for the post of Zila Panchayat chair accusing the ruling party of not conducting free and fair elections.
