Yogi factor ‘propelled’ BJP’s victory margin in mayor polls

On three seats where the BJP repeated its mayoral picks of 2017, it bettered its previous performance

Even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all 17 mayoral elections in the state in 2023, its vote share on every seat rose significantly over 2017, a development that the party leaders credited to chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s record 50 rallies in 13 days.

Party leaders credited the win to chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s record 50 rallies in 13 days. (HT file)

For instance, in Ayodhya, the BJP got 77,494 votes this time against 44,642 in 2017; in Agra, it received 2,67,925 votes against 2,17,881 last time; in Kanpur, the party got 4,40,352 votes against 3,96,725 in 2017. Similarly, Ghaziabad electors gave 3,50,905 votes to the party this time against 2,82,793 in 2017.

On three seats where the BJP repeated its mayoral picks of 2017--Kanpur (Pramila Pandey), Bareilly (Umesh Gautam) and Moradabad (Vinod Agarwal)--it bettered its previous performance. “We did well everywhere. The CM’s campaign helped the party candidates everywhere,” said Uttar Pradesh BJP secretary Chandramohan.

The party’s vote percentage also went up. Pramila Pandey received 3,96,725 votes (42.1%) in 2017 against 4,40,353 this time. Umesh Gautam received 67,385 votes (47.54%) this time against 1,39,127 votes (40.73%) last time. Vinod Agarwal received 1.21 lakh votes in 2023 against 94,677 votes last time.

BJP’s vote share

Mayor seat  2017    2023 (in %)   (in %)

Ayodhya    44.89    48.67

Agra       42.77 50.87

Kanpur 42.1 48.03

Ghaziabad 49.86 58.12

Gorakhpur 47.72 49.79

Jhansi       35.29 57.15

Prayagraj     40.30 47.66

Firozabad     34.99 36.03

Bareilly       40.73 47.54

Vrindavan-Mathura 41.34 52.6

Moradabad   35.65 41.71

Lucknow     41.94   48.52

Varanasi     42.53   46.56

Saharanpur 36.55   45.68