In a major setback to the ruling Samajwadi Party and its sitting MP from Kannauj, Dimple Yadav — wife of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav — the BJP has won the Kannauj Nagar Palika by defeating the incumbent chairman who belonged to the SP.
Incidentally, the BJP’s upset win comes barely a month after Dimple romped home from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat after it was vacated by Akhilesh.
The counting of votes in the civic elections took place on Saturday and the results were announced late in the evening.
Kannauj, also renowned as a perfume city for producing natural oil-based perfumes, had witnessed large scale violence between the workers of the ruling SP and the Opposition BJP, while the police remained a mute spectator. Dozens of people had sustained injuries as the BJP alleged that the police were favouring the Samajwadi Party workers who had tried to capture booths in many places.
The Samajwadi Party had officially stayed away from the civic polls but since the Nagar Palika chairman belonged to the party, the ruling party had pulled out all the stops to avoid a political embarrassment to the SP ‘first family’. But, the locals’ enthusiasm seems to be petering out slowly and could well be an indicator of the falling approval ratings of the Akhilesh Government.