ZP president poll: BJP grabs 5 of 10 dists in Kashi zone, SP 2

Varanasi: The BJP has proved its dominance in the zila panchayat president polls in 10 districts of Varanasi zone. After winning in Varanasi and Mau unopposed, the party proved its dominance in the remaining eight districts on Saturday.
While BJP candidates won in Chandauli, Ghazipur and Mirzapur, the SP registered victory in Ballia and Azamgarh. Two Independents emerged victorious in Jaunpur and Bhadohi districts, while Apna Dal (S) candidate registered victory in Sonbhadra district.
Earlier, BJP candidates Poonam Maurya and Manoj Rai were elected unopposed from Varanasi and Mau, respectively.
Independent candidate Shrikala Dhananjay Singh, who is the wife of mafia don-turned-politician Dhananjay Singh, won the post of Jaunpur district panchayat president. She defeated her nearest rival Neelam Singh, also an independent candidate, by a margin of 15 votes. She got 43 votes out of a total 83 votes. The other contestants included Nishi Yadav of SP and Rita Patel of BJP-AD alliance. In Ballia district, the post was won by SP candidate Anand Chowdhary, who defeated BJP candidate Supriya Yadav by a margin of nine votes. While Anand got 33 votes, Supriya managed to fetch 24 votes.
Deenanath Sharma of BJP won the Chandauli district panchayat president post by defeating Tej Nayan Yadav of SP. Sharma got 30 votes while Yadav received five votes only.
Bhadohi district panchayat president post went to Anirudh Tripathi (Independent), who claimed support of BJP and defeated another Independent candidate Amit Singh. Anirudh is the brother of BJP MLA Ravindranath Tripathi. He got 20 votes, while Amit got four votes only. Sapna Singh of BJP won the Ghazipur district panchayat by defeating Kusumlata of SP. Sapna received 47 votes while Kusumlata got 20 votes.
SP candidate Vijay Yadav made a landslide victory in Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, by getting 79 votes, while his rival Sanjay Nishad of BJP got only six votes. In Sonbhadra district the post was won by Radhika Patel of Apna Dal (S), who defeated Jay Prakash Pandey of SP. She got 19 votes, while Pandey got 12 votes.
BJP candidate Raju Kannojiya won the Mirzapur district panchayat president post by defeating Asha Gautam of SP. Raju got 40 votes, while Asha received only four votes.