SP sweeps polls in twin dists

THE SAMAJWADI Party romped home to take control of the zila panchayats in Kanpur City and Kanpur Dehat for the next five years.While Seema Sachan rode to victory in Kanpur City, Mithlesh Yadav will be the new zila panchayat chairperson in Kanpur Dehat. The party wrested the posts in the twin districts from the BJP and the BSP in an almost one-sided affair.

THE SAMAJWADI Party romped home to take control of the zila panchayats in Kanpur City and Kanpur Dehat for the next five years.

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While Seema Sachan rode to victory in Kanpur City, Mithlesh Yadav will be the new zila panchayat chairperson in Kanpur Dehat. The party wrested the posts in the twin districts from the BJP and the BSP in an almost one-sided affair.

Seema garnered 17 votes against Dr Tripathi’s tally of 10 votes. Mithlesh Yadav polled 19 votes as compared to seven votes of BSP’s Savitri Yadav. The hallmark of this poll was the support SP candidates got from the Congress, the BJP and even from the BSP adding certainty to their prospects of victory.

The polling started off around 10 am amidst tight security and was over in the next three hours. In the first two hours no member turned up to vote. The excitement returned only when Seema’s MLA husband arrived with heavily guarded 15 members straight from the Vijay Villa Hotel, where they have been staying for last two days.

Already short on spirit, the BSP leaders tried their bit. Party leaders Anil Shukla Warsi, Antu Mishra, Prof Ram Gopal Sankhwar escorted seven members to the entrance. There they entered into arguments with SP leaders. In between, Rakesh’s archrival Vijay Sachan was manhandled and the situation threatened to boil over.

SP nominee Mithlesh, who had a tough time earlier when rebel Rekha Yadav entered the fray, secured 19 votes.

Her husband Kalloo Yadav is a well-known contractor and SP top shot Shivpal Singh Yadav had been personally monitoring the developments in Kanpur Dehat.