Uttar Pradesh Zila Panchayat elections: 22 candidates elected unopposed, 53 seats head to polls on July 3

The panchayat polls or those for district panchayat chiefs are not held on the basis of political parties but the candidates enjoy the tacit support of various parties.

Published on: Jul 2, 2021, 22:06:54 IST

By hindustantimes.com | Written by Shankhyaneel Sarkar | Edited by Avik Roy, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday won 21 seats unopposed ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Zila Panchayat elections which are to be held on Saturday. One candidate of the Samajwadi Party (SP) was also elected unopposed. Out of the 75 posts only 53 posts will now go for the polls on July 3.

Polling official inks the finger of a voter (ANI/For Representative Purposes)

The State Election Commission said that zila panchayat chiefs have been elected unopposed from Saharanpur, Bahraich, Itawa, Chitrakoot, Agra, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar, Amroha, Moradabad, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Banda, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Mau, Varanasi, Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur. UP State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar said that chairpersons of these zila panchayats have been elected unopposed.

“The BJP won 21 posts of zila panchayat chairpersons who were elected unopposed,” BJP general secretary JPS Rathore was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. SP spokesperson Sunil Singh Sajan said that their candidate won from Etawah.

Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday sacked the presidents of its 11 district units without giving any reason but people familiar with the developments told news agency PTI that they were ousted as they did not turn up for filing their nomination papers for the post of zila panchayat chairman. The party chief, Akhilesh Yadav also alleged that Uttar Pradesh chief minister rigged the elections for district panchayat chairpersons. Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati said the party is not contesting in order to better prepare for next year’s elections.

The votes for the remaining 53 seats will be cast from 11am to 3pm. The counting of the votes will take place on the same day after 3pm. The panchayat polls or those for district panchayat chiefs are not held on the basis of political parties but the candidates enjoy the tacit support of various parties.