With the counting for the three-tier panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh still on, the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) have claimed that their candidates have won over half of the zila panchayat seats.
While the panchayat elections in the state are not contested on party symbols, this time both the BJP and SP had officially declared the names of the candidates backed by them.
The Congress, too, had named its candidates on selected seats.
The BJP claimed that that out of the 3,051 members for the zila panchayat, 918 of their candidates had won and another 456 were leading.
BJP spokesman Harish Chandra Srivastava said that his party was winning majority of the seats in the panchayat elections which was a result of the welfare policies of the Centre and state governments.