LUCKNOW: The ruling BJP has swept the elections of the primary cooperative credit societies in rural areas while winning around 80 per cent posts of the cooperatives’ chairman and vice-chairman. The elections took place on Sunday.
Taking the early lead, the BJP-supported candidates cornered a majority of positions of the primary agriculture credit societies in the state over which the main opposition Samajwadi Party had a strong grip till 2020. A total of 46,773 different cooperative societies will be constituted through the electoral process over the next few months.
On Sunday, the elections were held for two key posts – chairman and vice-chairman — of 7,148 societies. The BJP walked away with a victory in about 6,450 of them. The SP registered a win in over 500 societies while the rest went to independent candidates.
The victory of the ruling party assumes significance considering that most farmers are linked to the activities of rural societies which facilitate the distribution of fertilisers, seeds, loans and credits in the villages. Meanwhile, reports of protests after the announcement of the results surfaced from several districts, including Jalaun and Bareilly.
The results of the elections highlighted the fact that the ruling party seemed to have made forays into SP strongholds in central UP as the candidates associated with saffron camp won on more than 80% of the two key positions in the Kanpur division, which includes Etawah, Kannauj, Auraiya and Farrukhabad districts, the key constituencies of Yadav belt.
While in Badaun, BJP-backed candidates had a cent-per-cent strike rate and won all the 132 societies, in Shahjahanpur, which is the native district of state cooperative minister JPS Rathore, the party-backed candidates won 111 out of 115 societies that went to the polls.
The election will continue till mid-June.
Rural delight for saffron camp