The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Yogi Adityanath is all set to retain power in Uttar Pradesh as it has already crossed the halfway mark in the early rounds of counting. It will be for the first time since 1985 that a ruling party will be returning to power in Uttar Pradesh.
While exit polls have predicted a victory for the ‘double-engine’ government of BJP, the state has not returned a government to power since 1985. Also for the first time in this biggest state of India, a Chief Minister is returning to power after completing a full-term of five years. Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, however, managed to improve its 2017 tally.
Early trends for the assembly election counting show the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party racing past the halfway mark in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab respectively. Celebrations have already begun outside the home of AAP’s Chief Minister candidate Bhagwant Mann, anticipating a big win for the party.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken a big lead in his constituency of Gorakhpur Urban, mirroring BJP’s early headstart. The BJP has also taken a huge lead in Uttarakhand and Manipur, and maintains a narrow lead over the Congress in Goa.
In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party is all set to form a government with a big majority. It was a big setback for both SAD and Congress as the state outrightly rejected both the parties which have ruled the state for long. Early trends suggest the AAP is winning over 80 seats in Punjab. In Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand, the BJP is ahead of Congress.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, where farmers were allegedly run over by Union MoS Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, the BJP is leading on seven seats out of the eight in the district, while the Samajwadi Party is ahead on one seat.
Nighasan, which falls in Tikunia where the incident involving farmers happened, BJP’s Shashank Verma was leading with 39,975 votes, SP’s R S Kushwaha was in second place with 24,527 votes. In neighbouring Palia, Harvinder Kumar Sahni alias Romi Sahni of the BJP was leading with 35,805 votes, while SP’s Pritinder Singh Kakku was in second place with 34,830 votes.
Several prominent Muslim candidates in Uttar Pradesh Thursday are leading as votes to the Assembly elections were being counted with jailed Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan was ahead with a sizeable margin in the Rampur constituency of the state.
In Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a roadshow in support of the BJP candidates, the party nominee is leading on two seats of Varanasi Cantonment and Varanasi North, but the party is trailing in Varanasi South. The newly expanded Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor where gold plating has been done recently falls in Varanasi South.
BJP candidate in Varanasi South is Neelkanth Tiwari who was elected MLA in 2017 and was inducted in the Yogi Adityanath-cabinet. SP candidate Kishan Dixit is leading on the seat with 6,146 votes. Tiwari was facing a string of anti-incumbency and sources said that RSS has applied its entire strength to ensure Tiwari’s win.
In Varanasi Cantonment, BJP’s Saurabh Srivastava is leading with 2,770 votes, while the party’s Ravindra Jaiswal is leading in Varanasi North with a margin of 10,153 votes.
According to the Election Commission data, in Sirathu, Samajwadi Party’s Pallavi Patel is ahead of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya with a slight margin of just over 350 votes after round 2 of counting.
In Punjab, AAP candidate Ajit Pal Singh Kohli defeats former CM Amarinder Singh by a margin of 13,000 votes from Patiala seat. Navjot Sidhu, Charanjit Singh Channi, Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal are all trailing in their constituencies.
