Decoding BJP's Big UP Rural Body Polls Win Amid Opposition Charge

The BJP swept elections to district panchayat chairpersons and block pramukhs (chiefs); voting is indirect in these elections and through elected representatives.

The ruling BJP's sweep in the Uttar Pradesh rural body elections on Saturday, in which the party won a large number of seats uncontested, appears to follow a long-term pattern in the state, contrary to claims by rivals like former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.  The high number of uncontested seats - between 30 and 40% - has been cited by opposition parties as proof that the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government used unfair means to coerce a win, in addition to violence and intimidation.  The BJP swept elections to district panchayat chairpersons and block pramukhs (chiefs); voting is indirect in these elections and through elected representatives. But it lost in May to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the panchayat elections, which involves direct voting by the public.  In 2016, when the Samajwadi Party was in power, the pattern appears to have been the same - the ruling SP had swept the district panchayat chairperson and block pramukh seats despite winning fewer seats than rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the panchayat election.