The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has already begun preparing for the municipal corporation elections in Uttar Pradesh with a resolve to win all 17 seats, including the mayoral polls, and establish a “city government” in the state before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In this context, it is noteworthy that state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has gifted development projects to all the 17 municipal corporations and has also engaged the intellectuals living there in a dialogue.

Yogi Adityanath has also spoken to Shahjahanpur residents, who will pick their first mayor this year, and has got an assurance from them to vote for the ruling party.

The UP CM has launched an array of development projects in the 17 cities, including a project worth Rs 1,459 crore in Bareilly, Rs 1,295 crore in Prayagraj, Rs 1,057 crore in Ayodhya, Rs 950 crore in Gorakhpur, Rs 878 crore in Ghaziabad, Rs  822.43 crore in Mathura-Vrindavan, Rs  517 crore in Meerut, Rs 488 crore in Agra, Rs  424 crore in Moradabad, Rs 388 crores in Kanpur, Rs 328 crores in Jhansi, Rs 308.18 crores in Shahjahanpur, Rs 269 crores in Firozabad, Rs 145 crores in Saharanpur, and worth Rs 86.55 crores in Aligarh by organising Prabuddhajan Sammelans.

Last time, the municipal corporation had around 16 seats, out of which the BJP bagged 14 seats while the Bahujan Samaj Party had won the Aligarh and Meerut Municipal Corporation seats. However, this time, voting will be held for the first time in Shahjahanpur. The party is confident of its victory on all 17 seats because of the developmental works carried out under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Yogi government has carried out unprecedented development of cities in the last six years. Under the Smart City Mission, Integrated Command and Control Center and Intelligent Traffic Management System are working in 10 smart cities at the cost of Rs 2000 crore. Projects worth Rs 547 crore are underway to develop Ayodhya, Gorakhpur, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Meerut, and Shahjahanpur as smart cities under the State Smart City Scheme. As many as 740 AC buses are also being operated in 14 cities.

In the last six years, Yogi’s entire focus was on providing housing to the needy. Along with this, adequate attention was also paid to toilets and cleanliness. As many as 17.62 lakh houses were constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) in the state. Under the Pradhan Mantri SVANidhi Yojana, a loan of Rs 1190 crore was made available to 10,33,132 street vendors.

UP has become free from open defecation in six years. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), more than two crore toilets have been constructed in the state so far benefiting more than 10 crore citizens residing in urban areas. In addition, 8,99,634 individual and 69,381 community-public toilets have been constructed in urban areas. Furthermore, 327 tonnes of plastic was seized and a fine of Rs 16.47 crore was imposed on defaulters in the last six years to keep the cities clean.