UP Election Results: Yogi Adityanath will return as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh as the BJP taking a lead over rivals in India’s politically most significant state with a bigger vote share than the last time.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shored up 44.6% of the vote, which is 5 percent more than the 2017 elections.
Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) gained over the last election but fell far from the party’s expectations.
The BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) and the Congress were leading in the five and four seats respectively. The RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) and Apna Dal (Sonelal) were leading in seven and 11 respectively, according to the latest trends.
Among those leading were Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur, Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal, Shivpal Yadav from Jaswant Nagar, and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu.
With 80 parliamentary seats, Uttar Pradesh holds the key to power at the center and could offer clues to the national mood before the 2024 general elections. UP state sends the most legislators to parliaments.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) had stitched up a diverse coalition with smaller parties which it had hoped would supplement its Muslim-Yadav support base with the voters from other backward classes.
Exit polls had predicted a comfortable majority for the BJP, despite the government’s much-criticized handling of COVID-19, anger over farm reforms, and high unemployment.
The BJP has long predicted it would retain the state because of policies such as a crackdown on crime, free staples for the poor during the pandemic, and its appeal to Hindu voters.
