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Civic polls fail to check Congress slide in Uttar Pradesh
A scrutiny of the polls indicates that when compared to 2017 urban local body elections, the Congress has won just about half the number of seats this time.
The civic polls have failed to check the political slide of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh (UP).
A scrutiny of the polls indicates that when compared to 2017 urban local body elections, the Congress has won just about half the number of seats this time.
The party lost all 17 mayoral seats though it did win 263 seats overall. The party wins include, 77 corporator seats, 4 Nagar Palika Parishad chairperson, 91 Nagar Palika Parishad members, 14 Nagar Panchayat chairperson and 77 Nagar Panchayat members.
Political experts felt that the total number of Congress wins was negligible as the election was held in 760 urban local bodies for 14684 posts in 17 Nagar Nigam, 199 Nagar Palika Parishad and 544 Nagar Panchayat.
In 2017, it had won 420 seats, including 110 corporators, 9 Nagar Palika Parishad chairpersons, 158 Nagar Panchayat Parishad members, 17 Nagar Panchayat chairpersons and 126 Nagar Panchayat members. The party had won 453 seats in 2012 civic polls.
Senior Congress leaders, however, defended the party’s performance.
“The Congress candidates gave a tough fight and remained second on three mayoral seats. The party’s candidates emerged second on six seats and the party candidates gave a tough fight in nine of the 17 mayoral seats. The party also put up a fight on 25 seats of Nagar Palika Parishad chairpersons and 10 seats of Nagar Panchayat president. On eight of Nagar Panchayat member seats the party’s candidates lost by a margin of less than 500 votes,” a senior Congress leader said.
The party leaders also point towards the Congress’ poll percentage in 2023 civic elections vis-a-vis the 2022 assembly elections. The party got 4.90 percent of the votes in the civil polls. “The Congress got only 2.36 percent votes in 2022 assembly elections. The civic elections are contested on different issues. The party’s poll percentage in 2017 civic polls is not immediately available. Yet, the increase in the Congress poll percentage may give an indication towards the partial shift in the mood of voters in the urban local body areas,” said the party leader.
“BJP has not won the civil elections on its own. Instead, the BJP government has won the polls for the party’s candidates. We learn lessons from every defeat. We will work harder and improve our performance in future,” said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Brijlal Khabri.
UPCC organization secretary Anil Yadav said the party’s candidate for Moradabad Mayoral post Mohammad Rizwan lost only by a margin of 3643 votes securing 117832 votes (40.86 percent) votes. He said few other Muslim candidates also put up a good fight and cited it as proof of Muslims turning towards the party again. “We are hoping that the Congress will perform much better in 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said Yadav.
