Lucknow:
Three months after the high pitched Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the state is once again set for another electoral clash. 12 municipal corporations, 189
nagarpalika parishads and 404
nagar panchayats in 72 districts will go to polls from today till July 4.
However, two of the leading political parties in the state, the ruling Samajwadi Party and the main opposition, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), have decided to skip the contest.
Despite a historic absolute majority win in the 2012 assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party is still weary of the people's mandate on its 100-day rule in the state.
The BSP has traditionally boycotted municipal and local body politics.
Last year the former Mayawati government made every possibly attempt in the courts to stall these elections fearing they would reflect an anti-incumbency wave against her government. But in December, the Supreme Court ordered that the elections be conducted. However elections could not be scheduled due to the announcement of the assembly polls.
In Lucknow, which goes to polls today, local and civic politics has been dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has banked on a large support base of urban middle class voters.
The Congress too is in the fray and is using these polls as an opportunity to make political inroads across the state.
Municipal corporations in Meerut, Moradabad, Varanasi Bareilly, Agra, Kanpur Nagar, Allahabad and Gorakhpur Aligarh Ghaziabad and Jhansi will go to polls in four phases starting the June 24 till July 4. The results will be declared on July 7.