Varanasi, May 5 : The ruling Yogi Adityanath government has suffered a major setback with the results of the Panchayat elections held last month.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party has won a comprehensive victory in Varanasi and Ayodhya, while Mayawati’s BSP and Ajit Singh’s RLD topped in Mathura, three districts that are important to the saffron party’s agenda. There has been a special focus on these three districts during the Yogi government’s four-year tenure. The results of the panchayat elections have proved to be a setback for the BJP government. 

In Varanasi, the BJP has now lost the panchayat polls too after the election of the Legislative Council. In the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the saffron party managed to win only 8 out of 40 seats of the district panchayat. Samajwadi Party has won 14 seats, BSP got 5 seats, whereas Apna Dal (S) scored three seats. Aam Aadmi Party also opened its account in Varanasi district.

BJP has also faced an embarrassing defeat in Mathura, the city of Lord Krishna. In Mathura, Mayawati’s BSP has won 12 seats and Chaudhary Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal has won 9 seats. BJP won 8 seats. At the same time, the SP opened its account with just one seat. Congress failed to score any seat, while 3 independents won.  The BJP’s condition remained poor in Ayodhya as well. The Samajwadi Party swept 24 out of 40 seats in the district. BJP managed to win only 6 seats. The rest were captured by independents.