Having fared poorly in the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Mayawati is now trying to streamline the local administration and improve delivery systems in the 10 Assembly constituencies and a Lok Sabha constituency where the by-elections are due later this year.

Lately, two of her trusted officers have been visiting the districts where the by-elections are to be held, trying to gather feedback on the local administration from the grassroots and passing instructions for removing the shortcomings and eliminating corruption.

The task assigned to the Additional Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shankar Pandey and Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur is to conduct “a district-wise review of the law and order situation, besides development projects” across the state.

In the initial stage, they are concentrating on the districts which are going to have the by-elections.

They visit local hospitals, Ambedkar villages, PDS shops, police stations, look into the functioning of various schemes, construction of rural roads and ponds to get a feel of the situation on the ground. They meet villagers to find out what is wrong, address meetings of officers and report directly to the Chief Minister.

Mayawati is obviously keen to make an impact on voters as an administrator. After the Lok Sabha elections, 13 Assembly seats fell vacant due to the resignation of MLAs.

The Ferozabad Lok Sabha seat was vacated by Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who was elected from two seats and decided to retain Kannauj.

Sources in the office of Chief Electoral Officer said all by-elections may be held before September 2. The MLAs of Malihabad, Moradabad West, Bidhuna and Morena had resigned from the Assembly in the first week of March and the by-elections must be held within six months of the vacancy arising in these constituencies.

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