UP civic polls: BJP's Sanyukta Bhatia becomes Lucknow's first woman mayor

BJP leader Sanyukta Bhatia created history on Friday as she was elected the first mayor of Lucknow defeating nearest rival, Samajwadi Party's Meera Vardhan, by a huge margin of 1,31,356 votes.

A woman had never been the mayor of state capital Lucknow but this time the seat was reserved for women.

Bhatia polled 3,77,166 votes while Vardhan, kin of educationist Acharya Narendra Dev, came second polling 2,45,810.

Congress candidate Prema Awasthi, wife of the former legislator Surendra Nath Awasthi and BSP candidate Bulbul Godiyal were relegated to the third and the fourth place respectively in a field of 19.

The polling was held in the 'City of Nawabs' on November 26 in the second leg of the three-phased municipal elections across Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act came into being in 1916 and Barrister Syed Nabiullah became the first Indian to head the local body.

Lucknow has, however, thrice sent a woman to the Lok Sabha as its representative with Sheila Kaul being elected in 1971, 1980 and 1984.

Uttar Pradesh gave India its first woman governor and chief minister also. Freedom fighters Sarojini Naidu and Sucheta Kriplani were the country's first woman governor and chief minister respectively.

Naidu, popularly known as the 'Nightingale of India', was the governor of the United Provinces, now known as Uttar Pradesh, from 1947 to 1949.

Kriplani held the chief minister's office from 1963 to 1967.