For the first time in 37 years a reigning government will return to power in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s most politically crucial state as BJP gain an ever bigger vote share than last time, as votes were counted on Thursday.
A significant victory for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who will begin his second term as Chief Minister of the state.
The BJP has shored up 44.6 per cent of the vote – a significant 5 per cent improvement over the 2017 elections.
Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, trailing with roughly half the seats, gained over the last election but fell far short of the party’s expectations.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress were leading in five and four seats respectively. The Apna Dal (Sonelal) was leading in 11 seats and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in seven, according to latest trends.
Among those leading were Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban, Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal, his party’s Shivpal Yadav from Jaswant Nagar and Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Shukla from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh).
Adityanath is heading for a landslide victory in Gorakhpur Urban seat, leading over his nearest rival, Samajwadi Party’s Subhawati Shukla, by about 51,974 votes.
However, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is trailing from Sirathu seat by 82 votes, while Swami Prasad Maurya of the Samajwadi Party is also trailing from Fazil Nagar seat. Congress state president Ajay Kumar Lallu is trailing from Tumkuhi Raj.Ads by
With 80 parliamentary seats, Uttar Pradesh holds the key to power at the centre and could offer clues to the national mood before the 2024 general election.
Home to about a fifth of India’s 135 crore people, UP sends the most legislators to parliament of any state.
A majority for the BJP would make it the first party to get a consecutive second term in more than three decades.
The Samajwadi Party, considered the biggest challenger of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, had stitched up a diverse coalition with smaller parties which it had hoped would supplement its Muslim-Yadav support base with voters from the Other Backward Classes.
The BJP has long predicted it would retain the state because of policies such as free staples for the poor during the pandemic, a crackdown on crime, and its appeal to Hindu voters.
At 5pm, BJP leading in 226 seats, ADAL 11, NISHAD 7 | SP in 115, RLD 8, SBSP 5 | Congress in 2, and BSP in 1 (ECI)
UP Elections 2017 VS 2022.
In 2017, the BJP won 53 of the 58 seats divided across 11 districts. The BJP’s opponents, notably the Samajwadi Party-Congress coalition, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), were destroyed in the elections as the Modi wave swept Uttar Pradesh.
Comparison
Seats: 403
- 2017
322 BJP+- 52 SP+
- 19 BSP
- 7 Cong
- 3OTH
322 BJP+
52 SP+
19 BSP
7 Cong
3OTH- 2022
- 267 BJP+
- 131 SP+
- 2 Cong
- 1 BSP
- 2 OTH
In the 2017 election the margin of victory was less than 5,000 votes in 46 Assembly constituencies, with BJP winning 23 of them and its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) one.
The SP had won with such a narrow margin in 12 constituencies, BSP on eight, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Congress each on one seat.
Also, the SP was runner-up on 14 such seats, BSP on eight and Congress on two seats.
The thinnest victory margin was 171 votes in Domariyaganj in Siddharthnagar district where BJP’s Raghvendra Pratap Singh had defeated BSP’s Saiyada Khantun
