UP Panchayat chief polls 2021: 349 candidates elected unopposed, elections for 476 posts on July 10

In a statement, State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar said 1,778 nomination papers were received for 825 posts of the block panchayat chief, of which 68 were cancelled and 187 withdrawn.

Lucknow: As many as 349 candidates for the block panchayat chief polls in Uttar Pradesh were declared elected unopposed on Friday (July 9), the last day for the withdrawal of nomination papers.

Now, the elections will be held for 476 posts on Saturday (July 10).

In a statement, State Election Commissioner Manoj Kumar said 1,778 nomination papers were received for 825 posts of the block panchayat chief, of which 68 were canceled and 187 withdrawn.

As a result, now 1,710 candidates will go into the elections on Saturday, he said.

The voting for elections will be held on 476 block major seats on Saturday (July 10). BDC members will vote for the election. 

Kumar said the polling will be held from 11 am to 3 pm and the counting will take place after that.

Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a major victory in the Zila Panchayat chairperson election. BJP won the Zila Panchayat President poll in 65 out of 75 districts in the state.

After the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered an emphatic win at elections to posts of Zila panchayat chairpersons, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has accused the saffron party of making a mockery and claimed that it "kidnapped" and used "force" on voters to prevent them from polling. 

The former UP CM called it strange that while most results in the elections for the Zila panchayat members were in favor of the Samajwadi Party, the BJP gained in the polls for the district panchayat chief. The complicity of officials has also come to the fore, he alleged.