BSP not contesting UP Panchayat polls: Mayawati

Lucknow, June 28 (IANS) Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati on Monday said that her party is not contesting the ongoing Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh since they are not being held in a transparent manner."We have decided not to contest zila panchayat elections in UP. I want to clarify if the elections would have been impartial, then we would have contested," she said.The elections will be held on July 3 and the results will be announced the same day. The Panchayat polls are being considered as the semi-final for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections to be held in 2022.The BSP had performed poorly in the first phase of the Panchayat polls held in May and finished third, lagging behind the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party.Mayawati's announcement came a day after she announced that her party will contest next year's Assembly polls alone and there will be no alliance with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, as announced by a section of media.
--IANS amita/dpb