NEW DELHI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the local civic body polls in the country's largest state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
The BJP won mayoral elections in 14 of 16 municipal corporations in the northern Uttar Pradesh, including capital Lucknow, as well as bagging several seats in municipal councils and nagar panchayats.
The country's main opposition Congress party and the regional Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were all decimated by the ruling party.
The civic body polls were touted to be the first litmus test for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government, which cruised to victory in the state elections in March.
"BJP's historic win in the UP civic polls is because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development policies and (party chief) Amit Shah's guidance," the chief minister told the media.
The Hindu priest-turned politician conducted a turbo-charged campaign in the state ahead of the civic body polls, holding rallies after rallies to showcase BJP's development agenda.
"Today's victory sets the BJP on the path to achieve the goal of 100 percent success in the 2019 Lok Sabha (general) elections," the chief minister said.
