By Abhishek Mishra: Ahead of the civic body elections in Uttar Pradesh, the fight in Lucknow heated up with the BJP nominating Sushma Kharkwal as the candidate while the Samajwadi Party named Bandana Mishra as their prospective mayor. While Samajwadi Party’s chief Akhilesh Yadav missed the campaign, his wife joined the candidate Vandana Mishra, who held a house-to-house campaign in the northern area of Lucknow on Saturday.
Mishra threw light on the battleground and deemed the fight a clear win for the SP.
The seat of Lucknow Municipal Corporation has been a stronghold of the BJP. Last time, Samyukta Bhatia from BJP was elected as the mayor and this time, the BJP fielded Kharwal by changing the candidate. So far in the history of 62 years, out of 19 city heads, five were Jansangh, eight were Congress and eight were BJP-supported candidates.
Later, when Jan Sangh became the BJP, BJP has been occupying the post of Mayor of Lucknow Municipal Corporation for the last 27 years till now.
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The SP’s trust in Vandana Mishra, a social worker and journalist, was seen campaigning with great fervour. Vandana Mishra is a senior journalist and a social worker. She is the President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties UP, which recently joined SP.
She is the wife of former Lucknow University Professor Ramesh Dixit, who was a professor of political science at Lucknow University.
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Vandana Mishra, who was campaigning in the Vikas Nagar area of Lucknow, told Aaj Tak that all of SP’s features,
“What work has been done in the municipal corporation, go outside and see what work has been done as soon as you go on the road. You see there are piles of garbage, there is waterlogging, and the drain is full of garbage. If you get a drain together then there are roads full of potholes on which people stumble,” the SP candidate said.
Mishra said the biggest issue was cleanliness and health in the city of Lucknow.
“Water fills in the rainy season, and people fall into it and get hurt, so these are all issues, not just one issue. We are fighting for all these issues, going among the public regarding these issues and the public is troubled by them. People themselves are seeing the difficulties they are facing. That’s why I am getting full support from the public,” Mishra said.
“The condition of Lucknow has gone from bad to worse in the last five years. The condition of the drains is worse under the BJP rule, potholes have been created, and the drinking water system has been further destroyed, so I have no challenge under the BJP rule,” the SP candidate said.
The SP candidate also said that there was a problem with garbage disposal and water logging in the capital city.
“You (BJP) discriminate in matters of religion, you discriminate in matters of caste, we want to end this politics of hatred,” Mishra said.
The voting for civic body polls will be conducted on May 4. The election will be held on 14,684 posts in 760 Urban Local Bodies across the state. Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Devipatan, Gorakhpur and Varanasi divisions of UP will go to polls in the first phase on May 4. Voting will be held on May 11 in Meerut, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Ayodhya, Basti, Azamgarh and Mirzapur divisions.
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