The Bharatiya Janata Party has posted another giant win in Uttar Pradesh, the first party in many years to retain the state. The BJP, along with allies, is leading in 266 seats, while Samajwadi Party plus is ahead in 125 seats, the party’s own tally at 141 leads. It is a respectable lift of 77 from its tally of 47 in 2017, but not a winning score.

Well before the final announcement, the workers of the BJP party plunged into celebrations in Varanasi, which is also the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The party workers, raising slogans-“Yogi-Modi Jai Shriram, Jai Shriram” with party flag waiving in the sky, assembled at the Gulab Bagh party office in Sigra to express their happiness over the increasing margin of votes in favour of the party candidates.

Meanwhile, The Kaun Banega UP Chief Minister is settled. It is BJP’s Yogi Adityanath and not Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav.

Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress have shrunk further, and are now irrelevant. The BSP contested 403 seats, is leading in 3. The Congress contested 399, is leading in 1 seat.

Uttar Pradesh has 403 assembly seats and a party or alliance needs 202 to form the government. 

Also read: Uttar Pradesh elections 2022: Full list of voting dates for all constituencies

Both Adityanath, 49 and Akhilesh Yadav, 48 are contesting assembly elections for the first time. Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur and Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal.

The BJP has partnered  this time with old ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD party. Akhilesh Yadav picked several had formed a rainbow coalition with RLD and a string of regional parties, including Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

Meanwhile, the protests by Jat farmers against new farm laws with its Uttar Pradesh epicentre in the western region were believed to impact the ruling governemnt. The results, however, has claimed that the western UP is not caused any impact on the BJP.

Also read: UP polls: SP President Akhilesh Yadav accuses BJP of ‘stealing votes’

The BJP also played a major role in Rae Bareli, where Sonia Gandhi was the Lok Sabha MP, and has come in favour of the BJP in the 2022 Assembly election. Rae Bareli is one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. It is considered a bastion of the Congress.

Rae Bareli is one of the 80 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is considered a bastion of the Indian National Congress.

Also read: In 2022 UP campaign, Priyanka Gandhi outscores Yogi Adityanath in rallies

In Bundelkhand, the Opposition had tried to turn the anger over stray cattle issues to its advantage. The Congress manifesto had put the number of stray cattle in the state at more than 12 lakh, and promises to compensate farmers for loss of crops, introduce a scheme to procure cow dung, and to set up a cowshed in each panchayat. This also did not made any favour for the Congress in the ongoing Assembly elections.

Also read: Akhilesh Yadav confident of victory even as exit polls predict BJP return

The BJP has partnered  this time with old ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD party. Akhilesh Yadav picked several had formed a rainbow coalition with RLD and a string of regional parties, including Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP).