UP Panchayat Elections: Warning signs for BJP

The results of the recently-held panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh do not look good for the ruling BJP led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ahead of state assembly election to be held next year. 

The results which came after the party suffered a defeat in West Bengal state assembly polls.

Should the BJP begin to panic now on account of the panchayat election results? Has the Covid bug finally bitten the voters in India's most-populous state, a state that accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats and will vote for its next government 10 months from now?

The BJP has managed only eight of a possible 40 seats in Ayodhya, the temple town where Yogi lavishes much attention. Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) managed 24 seats, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) landed four, and independents six.

In Mathura, the BJP won only eight of the 33 district panchayat seats, while the BSP emerged as the biggest gainer with 13 seats. In Varanasi, which has twice elected PM Modi to the Lok Sabha, the Samajwadi Party has won 15 seats, the BSP plus independents 17 and the BJP just 8.

In the Panchayat polls, candidates are supported by political parties but do not contest as their representatives.

But, as the results show, there are enough warning signs for BJP in UP, a core state for saffron party. Out of 3050 seats in the polls, BJP managed to get 599 seats. SP got 790 seats while BSP secured 354 seats. The Congress also won 60 seats. And the rest- 1247 seats- went to independents. 

That is a lot in a state where the BJP swept the last assembly election in 2017 with 40% of the vote and 321 of a possible 403 seats.