LUCKNOW: After Kairana and Noorpur by-elections, a test of opposition unity against the ruling BJP will be at play once again on Saturday when nearly 200 Village and
Zila Panchayats go to by polls.
Polling is scheduled to be held for the posts of 128 Gram Pradhan, 14 Gram Panchayat members besides 43 Kshetra Panchayat and 13 Zila Panchayat members on Saturday. Counting of votes and declaration of results will be done on August 28, officials in the
UP state election commission said.
Though the rural and local bodies elections are not contested on party symbols, political parties are likely to throw their weight behind the contesting candidates in a bid to test their electoral ground.
The rural local bodies elections also gain much importance amid SP and BSP inching close to forge a formidable alliance against the ruling BJP in the run up Lok Sabha elections due next year. Even as BJP has pumped up its rural outreach through various government scheme like Ujjawala (distribution of free LPG), Saubhagya (free electricity connections) and PM Awas Yojana (housing projects for rural poor).
The saffron party had reached out to the rural masses through the
Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and Gram Chaupal scheme envisaging removal hurdles in implementation of government schemes at the grass root level. The BJP has also been invoking its ideologues like Deendayal Upadhyay and former PM late Atal Behari Vajpayee by deciding to immerse latter's ashes in all rivers of UP and naming roads after him to drum up supporters amongst the supporters.
The opposition parties, essentially the SP and BSP, on the other hand, have been relying more on anti-incumbency against the ruling dispensation and consolidation of communities, mainly Dalits and Muslims, which form the core vote bank.
