UP panchayat poll results set alarm bells ringing for BJP

With the rival Samajwadi Party (SP) edging past even in saffron bastions, the results of the panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh have set alarm bells ringing within the BJP.

The results, barely seven months before the state assembly polls, have come as a shot in the arm for SP, which bagged 760 out of the total 3,050 seats in the Zila Panchayats.

BJP-backed nominees, on the other hand, could win 750 seats while BSP and Congress-supported candidates bagged 381 and 76 seats respectively. The Independents won 1,083 seats.

For the BJP, which had claimed that it would sweep the panchayat polls, the results came as a ''rude shock''. The party-backed nominees were made to bite the dust even in saffron bastions of Kashi, Mathura, Ayodhya, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra and many other places.

Although state BJP leaders sought to put up a brave face and continued to claim success in the panchayat polls, sources in the saffron party said the alleged 'mishandling' of the Covid 19 situation cost the party dearly in the polls.

''In the eastern and central regions, we had to face the anger of the people due to the scarcity of oxygen and a large number of deaths, while in the western region, the protests against farm laws went against us,'' confided a senior UP BJP leader while speaking to DH on Wednesday.

He saidthe results would force the party to go back to the drawing board and revisit its electoral strategy.

While the panchayat polls results came as a welcome relief for the SP, which was nurturing hopes to oust the BJP in the next assembly polls, the Congress too managed to double its tally as compared to the last polls and fared well in its bastion of Rae Bareli.