Lucknow: A popular slogan of yesteryears that said, "Koi nahin hai takkar mein, kyon pade ho chakkar mein," is now reverberating across Uttar Pradesh.
With the BJP sweeping the municipal elections and the victory margin widening with every passing hour, the party had proved, once again, that it remains invincible in Uttar Pradesh and that Yogi Adityanath is its lucky mascot.
The BJP is leading in all 17 municipal corporations, including the recently formed Shahjahanpur municipal corporation. The data provided by district administrations suggested the BJP was leading the way ahead of Samajwadi Party, BSP, Congress and other political parties in municipal corporations and councils.
The BJP has improved its performance since it had won only 14 of the 16 mayoral polls in the 2017 and this time, it has won all 17 mayoral polls-including the newly formed Shahjahanpur municipal corporation.
Besides elections to 17 posts of mayor, voting was also held to elect 198 chairpersons and 5,260 members of nagar palika parishads, 542 chairpersons of nagar panchayats and 7,104 members of nagar panchayats in the urban local bodies' polls in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP is moving towards a comfortable majority in all the polls.
Voting was also held to elect 1,401 corporators. As many as 19 corporators were elected unopposed.
The Samajwadi Party, which had claimed to provide an alternative to the BJP, has suffered a humiliating defeat, and its opposition to the 'bulldozer politics' has proved to be a non-starter.
The BSP's efforts to make a comeback ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have also fallen flat and the party could not register its presence in UP.
The Congress' performance in municipal polls in Uttar Pradesh has negated the joy of its victory in Karnataka. The party could not contest all seats due to lack of candidates and victory still remains a distant dream for the party in the state. —IANS