UP's three-tier panchayat elections a semi-final for Yogi Adityanath

The UP panchayat polls are seen as the virtual semifinal for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath before the big electoral battle in early 2022

The influx of nearly 3.2 million migrant workers following Covid-19 lockdown notwithstanding, Uttar Pradesh is gearing up for the three-tier panchayat elections towards the end of this year.

Held to be the world’s largest local-body polls, more than 120 million people are eligible to elect the members of nearly 59,000 panchayats.

The term of the current elected bodies at the village-, block-, and district-levels will expire on December 26.

Although these elections are not contested on party symbols, candidates openly owe allegiance