New Delhi: Ahead of the state-wide civic polls on May 4 and 11, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is set to visit Prayagraj for the first time after the double murder of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf. UP CM will hold a public meeting in Prayagraj ahead of the Municipal Corporation elections in the state.
On April 15, gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction while police personnel was escorting them to a medical college in Prayagraj for a checkup.
Earlier, while addressing an election meeting in Sitapur, Adityanath termed the upcoming urban body elections “Deva-Asura sangram”, a battle between the gods and their enemies, and said it is necessary to teach the corrupt and the mafia a lesson.
At another meeting, Adityanath said that before 2017, when the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh, there was hooliganism in the state and a “goonda tax” used to be collected from traders.
But now nobody dares to demand it, he said.
At an election rally in Gorakhpur, Adityanath said caste politics had ruined Uttar Pradesh.
“Caste politics was created by the mafia and led to an identity crisis among the youth. However, the people of the state rejected those indulging in caste politics. Now the mafia are begging for their lives by hanging a placard around their neck,” the chief minister said.
A total of 17 municipal corporations, 199 municipal councils, and 439 nagar panchayats will elect their new representatives. As many as 1,420 corporator seats, 5,327 nagar palika parishad member seats, 544 nagar panchayat chairperson seats, and 7,178 nagar panchayat member seats will be up for grabs. A total of 14,684 posts in the state will be contested.
The counting of votes for the civic elections will be held on May 13.