LUCKNOW More than 66% of the total candidates trying their luck in the two-phase urban local body (ULB) polls in Uttar Pradesh are independents while the number of women contestants also far exceeds the minimum 33% quota limit, as per data received from the State Election Commission (SEC).

Among the political parties, the ruling BJP has fielded the highest number of candidates, followed by the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The first-phase voting will take place in 37 districts on May 4 and the remaining 38 districts, including Lucknow, will go to polls in the second phase on May 11. The counting of votes will be held on May 13. As many as 85 and 77 candidates have already been declared elected unopposed in the first and the second phase, respectively.

According to the data, over 83,000 candidates are contesting for 14,684 posts of mayors, corporators, nagar palika chairpersons, members and nagar panchayat chairpersons and members in 760 LUBs that include 17 nagar nigams, 199 nagar palika parishads and 544 nagar panchayats (semi-urban LUBs).

It is seen that more than 55,600 of the total contestants in the fray are independents who account for close to 67% of the total strength of candidates. In the first phase, 44,232 candidates are in fray and 29,683 of them are independents while in the second phase 26,000 of the 39,146 candidates are independents.

“A big number of independents may be rebel candidates who might not have got tickets from their respective parties and decided to contest on their own,” a senior SEC official said.

The data further reveals that 35,102 female candidates are fighting for various posts and their share in the total number of contestants comes to above 42%, which is far more than the minimum 33% reservation provided to women under the Constitution. Among the independent candidates too, 42.53% are women candidates. There are 18,581 women candidates in the first phase and 16,521 in the second.

The BJP has fielded 10,758 candidates (including 4,248 women), the highest among all the parties. The SP has fielded the second highest number of candidates – 5,231 (2,223 women), followed by the BSP’s 3,787 (1,611 women). The Congress and the AAP have fielded 2,994 (1,395 women) and 2,447 (1,031 women) candidates, respectively.

More than 46% of the candidates fielded by the Congress are women and this appears to be higher than that of all other main political players. Among the BJP candidates, 39.48% are women, which is lower than that of the BSP (42.54%), the SP (42.49%) and AAP (42%).