Lucknow; 04 July 2021 (UMMN): BJP won 67 out of 75 district seats in UP Zila Parishad chairman polls. Samajwadi Party won 5, Lok Dal and Jansatta Dal won 1 each, and 1 seat went to independent candidate.
Chairpersons of 22 seats were declared elected unopposed on Tuesday so polls were held in the remaining 53 districts on Saturday.
Panchayat polls and Zila Parishad chairman election are not held on a party basis but candidates usually enjoy the support of various political parties. Chairpersons are elected from among the elected members of zila panchayats of various districts.
According to First Post, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav accused Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath of rigging the Zila Parishad chairman elections.
"Hijacking the mandate, the state administration forcibly prevented candidates of Samajwadi Party and other Opposition parties from filing nominations," the former chief minister said in a statement.
On 26 June, the Samajwadi Party sacked the presidents of its 11 district units without giving any reason, but sources told PTI that they were ousted as they did not turn up for filing their nomination papers for the post of zila panchayat chairman, reported First Post.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had said her party has decided not to contest the Zila Panchayat chairman elections as it wants to channelise its energy on strengthening the organisation before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next year.
"Once the BSP forms its government in the state, the majority of the Zila Panchayat chairman themselves will join the BSP as they cannot function without power. We have kept this fact in mind and so decided not to contest the election," she had said.
