Lucknow: Counting of votes for the Urban Local Body polls in Uttar Pradesh is underway and trends show BJP leading in 15, out of the total 17 seats, while BSP and AIMIM on one each.
According to the Election Commission, after the seventh round of counting, BJP Mayoral candidate from Lucknow Sushma Kharkwal is leading. Kharkwal has bagged 10,185 votes, SP candidate Vandana Mishra 9,669, BSP candidate Shaheen Bano 878.
Before the counting began, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted in Hindi that hope the result is declared after every round of counting so that public’s faith is maintained.
Meanwhile, state Finance Minister Suresh Khanna claimed that the BJP will clean sweep all the 17 seats.
Khanna claimed that only the BJP can do development while opposition can only boast about doing things but in vain.
In the sixth round of Ayodhya Municipal Corporation, BJP Mayoral candidate Girish Tripathi is leading with 17,196 votes.
In Bareilly, after the fifth round of counting, BJP candidate has bagged 44,764 votes, SP 25,057 and Congress 6,371.
In the fourth round in Saharanpur Municipal Corporation, BJP candidate Dr Ajay Kumar is leading against BSP candidate with 9,231 votes.
In Varanasi, BJP’s mayoral candidate Ashok Tiwari is leading against Samajwadi Party candidate O P Singh with 7,000 votes.
After the fourth round of counting in Agra, BSP mayoral candidate is leading against the BJP. BSP polled 54,267 votes while BJP 32,964.
At the counting centre in Farukkhabad, supporters of BJP and SP clashed after which police officer reached the spot.
The counting of votes for 760 ULBs started at 8 a.m. and the polling for it was held in two phases on May and 11.
In municipal corporations, EVMs were used while in municipalities ballot papers were used.
Voting was held to elect 17 Mayors and 1,401 councillors while 19 councillors were elected unopposed.
Voting was held to elect 198 chairpersons and 5,260 members of municipal councils in the state.
The electorate voted to decide the fate of 542 chairpersons of Nagar Panchayats and 7,104 members of Nagar Panchayats.
Overall, 162 people’s representatives were elected unopposed, while 83,378 candidates were in the fray for 14,522 posts.
In Uttar Pradesh, mayoral elections were held in Agra, Jhansi, Shahjahanpur, Firozabad, Saharanpur, Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Mathura-Vrindavan Municipal Corporation.
–IANS