UP civic polls result 2017: BJP hopes to reaffirm political dominance in state, repeat success of 2012

The results of the Uttar Pradesh civic polls are expected to be declared on Friday. The three-phase Uttar Pradesh municipal polls were marred by complaints of names missing from the voters lists and EVM malfunctioning. According to News 18, this was the first time when web-casting of 10 percent booths of every district was done in an attempt to monitor booth-level activity. In all, 12,007 wards of local bodies, including 16 municipal corporations, 199 municipal councils and 429 nagar panchayats went to the polls. Drones were also used at some sensitive and hyper-sensitive polling booths. [caption id=“attachment_4203899” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The BJP will fancy its chances in the civic polls, as not long ago, it won the Assembly election in the state with an overwhelming margin. The civic polls will be seen as a popularity test for mahant-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath. The BJP’s victory in these polls would be seen as a stamp of approval for the Adityanath government. In 2012, the BJP swept these polls, winning 10 of the 12 mayoral posts. A week back,  Yogi Adityanath had appealed to voters in Varanasi to ensure that the BJP wins the upcoming civic polls so that all-round development in their respective areas takes place without any hindrance. Right from the first phase, on 22 November, technical glitches, EVM malfunction, missing names have been predominant issues. In the first phase , the districts of Shamli, Meerut, Hapur, Bijnore, Badaun, Hathras, Kasganj, Agra, Kanpur, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Unnao, Hardoi, Amethi, Faizabad, Gonda, Basti, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Sonebhadra had gone to the polls. There was a ruckus at ward number 89 in Meerut after voters alleged that EVMs were casting votes only for BJP, irrespective of which button was pressed. However, additional State Election Commissioner Ved Prakash Verma told Firstpost the allegations were false. On 22 November, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj was left fuming after he found his name missing from voters list for the local body elections. The MP, who had to return from Gadankheda polling booth this morning without casting his vote, alleged that it was a conspiracy and demanded stern action against erring officials after which the district administration ordered an inquiry. In the second phase of local body polls in Uttar Pradesh that ended on 26 November with 48.65 percent of the electorate exercising their right to vote. However, reports of malfunctioning EVMs, names missing from electoral rolls, and bogus voting continued to mar the polling process. Polling took place in 25 districts on Sunday: Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budhnagar, Amroha, Rampur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Aligarh, Mathura, Mainpuri , Farrukhabad, Etawah, Lalitpur, Banda, Allahabad, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Ballia and Bhadohi. On 26 November, BSP’s deputy leader in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Uma Shankar Singh, was booked by the police for violating the model code of conduct, which is in force for the civic polls, an official said. The last round of polling in the three-phase civic body polls in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday saw the highest turnout as more than 58.72 percent votes were registered, officials said. According to the State Election Commission officials, the voting percentage this time in these 26 districts, was seven percent more than the urban body polls in 2012. The highest turnout was recorded in Kanpur rural, where 73.46 percent votes were cast. The second highest polling was witnessed in Maharajganj where 72.92 percent votes were cast. Barring a few incidents of violence, protests and baton charges by police, the polling passed off peacefully and repolling was not ordered at any place, IANS reported. The 84 kilometre-long Indo- Nepal border was sealed ahead of the third phase. Meanwhile, taking cognisance of reports of anomalies in the voters’ list in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls, the Bareilly district administration on Wednesday suspended five booth-level officers (BLOs), while cases were lodged against 48 of them. With inputs from agencies Track all the results here