While victory in some corporations could act as a morale booster for Congress ahead of the Gujarat elections, wins at some places could signal a comeback for the SP which was humbled by the BJP in the assembly polls.
The results of the Uttar Pradesh civic body polls, which began on November 22, will be announced on Friday, and will be seen as a referendum on Yogi Adityanath government’s performance in the last seven months.
The counting for all 652 local urban bodies, including 16 nagar nigams began at 334 centres across the state Friday morning at 8.
The polls, which were held in three phases, will also be a litmus test for the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress.
While victory in some municipal corporations could act as a morale booster for Congress ahead of the Gujarat assembly polls, wins at some places could signal a comeback for the SP which was humbled by the BJP in the state assembly polls earlier this year.
The BSP, which has been sidelined in the state since it lost power in 2012, is contesting the polls for the first time on the party symbol, in a desperate bid by its supremo Mayawati to stay relevant in the state.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also making its maiden appearance in the urban polls and is expecting to make inroads into the state.
While polling was largely peaceful, there were reports of violence and protest as voters complained of bogus voting and missing names.
State election commissioner SK Agrawal said the average turnout was expected to be 52.5%, which was 6% more than 46.2% in 2012.
He said 41.26% turnout was recorded at nagar nigams, 58.15% in nagar palika parishads and 68.30% in nagar panchayats (semi-urban bodies).
The highest balloting was recorded in Kanpur rural where 73.46% votes were cast and the lowest was recorded in Allahabad nagar nigam at just 30.47%.
On complaints about EVM malfunctioning, Agrawal pointed out that only 503 of 32,374 EVMs had to be replaced due to some snags, and this was only 0.7% against the norm of 2%.
