Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh was painted saffron on Friday when BJP swept the municipal elections establishing its complete hold on the three-tier system of the government.
The Congress bettered its performance by ranking number two in Varanasi, Moradabad and Mathura. The Congress won the Nagar Palika president post in Rae Bareli.
Surprisingly, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM made its presence felt in the election. Its candidate Mashrur Fatima came second in Ferozabad.
The Samajwadi Party’s performance was, however, grossly disappointing. The party could not win even a single mayoral seat.
The municipal election results are a personal victory for UP CM Yogi Adityanath who had addressed around 33 rallies after the Opposition had claimed that the results would be a referendum of sorts on the performance of the eight-month old Yogi government.
The Opposition had given a psychological edge to the BJP as SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP president Mayawati did not campaign at all.
The BJP, which had won 10 out of 12 mayoral seats in 2012, won the Nagar Nigams in Mathura and Ayodhya.
Both these municipal corporations were recently created. Yogi Adityanath has started his election campaign form Ayodhya - a clear indication of his priority.
In Mathura, BJP candidate Mukesh Aryabandhu became the first mayor of the municipal corporation while in Ayodhya, BJP’s Hrishikesh Upadhyaya was elected the first mayor of the nagar nigam.
