Highlights:
- In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa, the BJP is expected to retain power, while the AAP has taken Punjab from the Congress.
- In the first two hours of counting, the BJP surpassed the halfway mark in UP.
- The AAP has made a huge jump in Punjab, where it now hopes to win three-fourths of the seats in the 117-member assembly.
The BJP appears to be on track to retain power in all four states it ruled in the mega-elections, which are seen as the semi-final before the general election in 2024. The party won a landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh, which is important politically. Punjab was swept by the Aam Aadmi Party.
As votes were counted on Thursday, Yogi Adityanath will be re-elected the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, with the BJP securing an unassailable lead over rivals in India’s politically most significant state, with an even higher vote share than previous time.
According to poll figures, the BJP is on track for a 250-seat majority in Uttar Pradesh’s 403 seats, with the Samajwadi Party, its main rival, lagging behind.
The BJP received 44.6 percent of the votes, a considerable increase of 5% over the past election.
With almost half of the seats, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party made gains over the last election but didn’t meet the party’s expectations.
In five and four seats, respectively, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress were leading. According to the latest polls, the Apna Dal (Sonelal) was leading in 11 seats and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in seven.
Yogi Adityanath of Gorakhpur, Akhilesh Yadav of Karhal, Shivpal Yadav of his party from Jaswant Nagar, and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya of Sirathu were among the leaders.
Uttar Pradesh holds the key to power at the centre, with 80 parliamentary seats, and could provide clues into the national mood ahead of the 2024 general election.
UP, which is home to almost a fifth of India’s 135 crore population, sends the most legislators to the parliament of any state.
If the BJP wins a majority, it will be the first party in more than three decades to win a second term in a row.
On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is on track to score a landslide victory in Punjab, with about 92 seats in the 117-seat assembly. With 13 seats, the ruling Congress is in second place.
Navjot Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, both leaders of the Congress, have lost in Punjab. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who left the Congress and established his own party, has also lost in the Patiala Urban seat.
Sukhbir Singh Badal also lost, leaving the Badal family without a representative in the Punjab state assembly for the first time in 30 years. Bhagwant Mann, the AAP’s Chief Ministerial candidate, won the Dhuri seat he was running for, securing another victory for the party.
With more than 45 seats in the 70-seat assembly of Uttarakhand, the BJP has gained a majority. With less than 20 seats, the Congress is trailing.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, on the other hand, is lagging in the Khatima seat. Harish Rawat, a Congress veteran, lost his seat in Lalkuwa.
The BJP, which is ahead in Goa’s 40 seats, has announced that it has the backing of three Independent and would meet with the Governor soon. MGP, a Trinamool Congress ally, wins by four seats. Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party made its debut with two seats and leads in a one more.
In the coastal state, the ruling BJP is seeking a third straight term in power. Party leaders will meet with the Governor of Goa to claim majority to form a government.
On 11 seats, the Congress is leading, followed by Maharashtrawadi Gomantak on three seats, and independent candidates on three seats. On two seats, the Aam Aadmi Party is also in the lead.
In Manipur, the BJP is predicted to win most of the seats. It is, however, still short of the required majority. The NPP (National People’s Party), led by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, has surpassed Congress to become the second-largest party in the state. This time, the BJP decided to go alone to contest on 60 seats. Congress, on the other hand, formed a coalition with six political parties, namely the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (M), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), the Forward Bloc, and the Janata Dal (Secular).
