Ayodhya: In a major disappointment for the Centre as well as the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to bag just eight out of the 40 zila panchayat seats in home turf Ayodhya.
The BJP’s Ayodhya unit admitted that it did not do as well as expected with the saffron party’s district spokesperson Diwakar Singh saying “the results are disappointing”.
“Despite having sitting BJP MLAs in all constituencies in Ayodhya district, we won only eight out of 40 zila panchayat seats,” PTI quoted Singh as saying.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) made major gains winning 22 district level seats while Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won four zila panchayat seats in Ayodhya.
The result has not been as expected for the BJP in Sohawal sub-district where the administration handed over five acres for the construction of a mosque as mandated by the 2019 Supreme Court ruling on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute.
The Samajwadi Party claimed to have won three of the four zila panchayat seats there, leaving one for an independent candidate.
Samajwadi Party Awadhesh Prasad said the people in rural areas are facing a lot of problems, including the issue of stray cattle destroying crops, under the BJP government.
Prasad claimed this has driven some farmers to suicide.
Counting for the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections began at over 800 centres across the state on Sunday.