Panchayat chiefs' election may be a murky affair

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, JULY 8. With the three-tier Panchayat elections over in 71 districts of Uttar Pradesh, the stage is now set for the election of the district Panchayat chiefs. With no party winning a majority of the 2134 members of the Zila Panchayat who constitute the electorate, money, muscle and caste factor are likely to play a decisive role. Both the Samajwadi party and the BSP are wary of the possible misuse of official machinery by the ruling BJP to win the election.

The Samajwadi Party had won a good number of these posts in 1995, when Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Chief Minister, courtesy the BSP with which it was running the coalition. The Party had ditched the BSP in the Zila Panchayat poll, which became one of the causes for the parting of ways between the two parties subsequently. The Panchayat elections this time, however, was more peaceful compared to 1995 in U.P., but the BJP failed to win many Zila Panchayat seats, despite being in power.

All the parties, who had expelled the rebel candidates during the elections, are now only too willing to make up and reinduct them. And for that matter, none of the parties, at least on record, were willing to make poll adjustments to win between them a majority of the 71 offices. The BJP was hopeful of a tie-up with the BSP, but the BSP leader, Ms. Mayawati announced that her party would have no electoral understanding with any party for the election. However, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav is convinced that the two parties had struck a deal.

The recent Panchayat election verdict notwithstanding the State BJP leaders have assured the Central leadership that it must wait for the outcome of the Zila Panchayat chief's election, in which BJP would be ahead of other parties. Mr. Yadav expressed his apprehension that the BJP would take recourse to nominations to the Zila Panchayats to help the party to win a few of the 71 posts. However, the BJP is divided over its choice of candidates, with State party leaders lobbying for their own proteges. In the one-leader parties like the Samajwadi Party, BSP, LCP and RKP there was no such predicament.

While the three main political parties, the BJP, SP and the BSP claimed to have won more Zila Panchayat seats than the others, the BSP and SP in particular, with their eyes on the Muslim vote bank, claim they are were the number one party now in U.P. with the BJP trailing behind them.

Mr. Yadav however held that the BJP was ahead of the BSP in the second position, while the SP had topped. Once, it was shown that the BJP had been relegated to the third position politically in U.P., Mr. Yadav's ploy to work on the Muslim psyche with the fear of Hindutva would end and they may turn at will to the BSP. Hence the assertion that the BJP was still a force in U.P. and the Samajwadi party alone had shoved it to the second position.

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