BJP sets sight on UP block pramukh polls this weekend

Like the zila panchayat chairpersons’ poll, in which BJP won 67 of the total 75 seats [including one seat won by its ally Apna Dal], these polls too won’t have a direct public participation as elected BDC members will elect the block pramukh

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh has relaxed some of its rules for party members for the block pramukh polls scheduled for this weekend.

Srinagar, India - December 4, 2020: A polling officer puts an ink mark on the finger of a voter during the third phase of District Development Council (DDC) Election in Khallmullah area of Ganderbal, in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India, on Friday, December 4, 2020. (Photo by Waseem Andrabi/ Hindustan Times)

The July 10 elections are the last of the rural polls before the 2022 UP assembly elections, and the candidates have to be nominated by July 8. “We are a party that is always poll-ready,” said UP BJP general secretary JPS Rathore who was in charge of zila panchayat polls that the party swept recently, and is also entrusted with block pramukh elections.

Like the zila panchayat chairpersons’ poll, in which BJP won 67 of the total 75 seats [including one seat won by its ally Apna Dal], these polls too won’t have a direct public participation as elected block development council (BDC) members will elect the block pramukh. There are 58,000 gram panchayats in UP and each block comprises roughly 70 gram panchayats, an official said.

Nearly 77,000 BDC members would vote for 825 of the 826 block pramukhs (block chairpersons) coming Saturday. The election for the pramukh’s post in Mujhena block in Gonda district will not be held yet, as more than six months are left for the tenure to get completed there.

For these elections, the BJP has decided to let party lawmakers or their families contest block pramukh polls. During the zila panchayat elections, party functionaries were allowed to contest only after quitting party posts.

In the recently concluded zila panchayat chairpersons’ polls, Opposition parties had alleged massive malpractices and misuse of official machinery, a charge that the BJP rejected.

“These block pramukh polls have their importance in an election year for political parties. Riding on its recent success in zila panchayat chairperson polls, the BJP would surely look to continue to expand its rural imprint. The Opposition Samajwadi Party, which did well in elections for the zila panchayat ward members, would also look to make an impression,” said Professor Manuka Khanna, head of the political science department of Lucknow University.