EVEN AS political parties are busy analysing urban local bodies poll results, the outcome clearly points towards independent candidates as clear winners.
Capturing maximum number of seats in the Nagar Nigam wards, chairman posts in Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Panchayats, the independents reigned supreme.
The State Election Commission (SEC) announced results of 582 wards out of the 979 wards in 12 Nagar Nigams on Thursday. While the BJP bagged 183 corporator seats, the Samajwadi Party won 127. But it was independents who captured lion’s share by winning 170 seats.
In the Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Panchayats, voters preferred independents to party candidates. Out of the 119 Nagar Palika Parishad chairman seats, independents won 49. The SP, BJP, Congress and the RLD bagged 40, 17, 11 and 2 seats respectively. SEC officials said remaining seats too witnessed encouraging performance by the independents.
Independents also captured 2181 wards in the Nagar Palika Parishad leaving the SP (437), BJP (377), Congress (140) and the RLD (38) way behind. The scenario was no different in the Nagar Panchayats, where too the independent candidates ruled the roost. Out of 417 Nagar Panchayat chairman seats, SEC declared results of 270. Independent walked away with 147 posts while the SP, BJP, Congress and the RLD could win only 64, 33, 17 and 9 seats respectively.
In the Nagar Panchayats, independents captured 2338 wards out of the 3233 for which results were declared. The SP managed to win 439 wards followed by BJP (238), Congress (140) and the RLD (53).
{{/usCountry}}In the Nagar Panchayats, independents captured 2338 wards out of the 3233 for which results were declared. The SP managed to win 439 wards followed by BJP (238), Congress (140) and the RLD (53).
{{/usCountry}}Though, BSP leaders claimed majority of the independent candidates belonged to the party, the truth was that most of them were not aligned to any political party.
The BSP had contested the 2000 urban local bodies election on its symbol and then too, independents had captured maximum number of wards in the Nagar Nigams and chairman posts in the Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Panchayats.
In 2000, independents had won 2878 Nagar Palika Parishad wards, while the BJP had 688 wards to its credit, followed by the SP (577) and the BSP (391).
According to SEC data, vote percentage of the independents in the 2000 election stood at 36.36 per cent.
The BJP polled 18.11 per cent, SP 15.30 per cent and the BSP 13.48 per cent votes.