Lucknow: Poll counting results in five states' assembly elections have give a clear pointer that BJP will come to power again in Up as also in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur while AAP has made a landslide in the Punjab. While in UP, the BJP has suffered a diminishing of its seats in the assembly, mainly taken away by the Samajwadi Party (SP), Yogi Adityanath's government fared fairly well in the context of projections that it would take a severe beating, and against negative factors against the incumbents.
In Punjab where the Congress had a clear majority in the last assembly has been the main loser. The party couldn't have suffered a bigger ignominy than the chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi losing both the constituencies where he contested: Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur.
The elections are widely seen as the semi-final of the 2024 parliamentary elections, especially with UP in the picture whose results tend to be seen as pointer to the parliamentary poll.
Right at the early stages of the counting, in UP the BJP has shown clear leading in at least 280 seats. Soon it became clear that the BJP would have no problem comfortably crossing the absolute majority mark of 202, although the eventual figure of 259 was 60 seats far below of its previous strength.
Samajwadi Party failed to measure up to the challenge it was expected to make against the BJP, but it made gains in the eventual numbers from the previous 47 to 131, whereas the BJP slipped from 312 to 259 as of now.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to return to power in Uttarakhand as it was ahead in 48 seats, 12 more than the required majority in the 70-seat assembly, with the Congress leading on 18 seats as counting of votes was underway.
However, incumbent Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is trailing as is Congress’ Harish Rawat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to retain power in Manipur as the party is leading in 20 seats, while the Congress is leading in 5.
Meanwhile, the counting of votes on 19 assembly in Manipur was delayed as several returning officers had the responsibilities of more than one constituency.
With counting underway in Punjab on Thursday, 10 March, latest updates show AAP leads pushing far beyond the halfway mark of 59 seats in the 117-seat Assembly. The party is leading in over 90 seats, and seems to be headed for a clean sweep.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the people of Punjab after the party's sweep in the state assembly elections, which he described as 'Inquilab', or revolution.
With the BJP headed for a win in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath could make history as the first Chief Minister to return to power in the state after a five-year term. It will also be the first time a party has come back to power in UP since 1985.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, as of 2:20 pm, maintained its lead in 244 seats. The Samajwadi Party, meanwhile, was leading in 125 seats.
Yogi Adityanath—a five-time parliamentarian—contested the state assembly elections for the first time this year from his home turf, Gorakhpur (Urban).
In 2017, he had become a Legislative Council member after becoming the chief minister.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to return in Uttarakhand as it is leading in 42 seats, eight more than the required majority in the 70-seat assembly.
BJP's CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, however, trails behind Congress’ Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by 954 votes in Khatima.
The Congress, on the other hand, is leading in 24 seats and its CM face Harish Rawat is trailing by over 10,000 votes in Lalkuwa.
Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa is inching closer to the half-way mark as early trends of the counting of votes showed the party leading on 18 Assembly seats. Meanwhile, Congress was ahead on 11 constituencies.
The BJP is seeking a third straight term in power, while the opposition Congress is hoping for a clear mandate to avoid the fiasco of 2017.
Goa was predicted by most pollsters to be heading for a hung assembly.
BJP leader Vishwajit Rane said, “We will sweep this Goa election. People have rejected scamsters, outsiders. They have voted for a party that works for the people of Goa." On asked if Pramod Sawant will continue as Chief Minister, he said, “Party leadership will decide".
AAP leader Manish Sisodia couldn’t help being euphoric. What started off as a rag-tag political experiment in Delhi has gotten its roots outside the state for the first time—quite a wonder in Indian’s long-running democracy. He attributed AAP’s triumphant march in Punjab to Kejeriwal’s good governance in Delhi. This is the victory of the ‘ Aam Aadmi’ he was quoted as saying—Aam Aadmi means common man after the name of the party.
The BJP has garnered 38.9 per cent of total vote share as the party is emerging triumphant and Samajwadi Party trails in 24 seats, according to the Election Commission website.
AAP is running amok in Punjab amassing so far 40.3 per cent of votes leading in upwards of 30 seats—39 seats, to be exact at 10am. The Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal are trailing far behind.
In Goa so far the BJP got a vote share of 39 per cent leading in 7 seats, where the Congress has a self-limiting voter share of 24.6 per cent with 2 seats propping up, as per the EC website.
In Manipur, in the early trends BJP picked up 59.9 per cent of votes while Congress is trailing with 29.1 per cent leading in 1 seat.
Uttarakhand has rendered 44 per cent vote share to the BJP while Congress is behind with 43 per cent vote share with lead in five states.
Shattering the Congress’s confidence to regain power, the BJP traversed the half mark in Uttarakhand. In the 70-member constituency, Congress is leading only on 17 seats, while the BJP is leading on 47 seats.
Since its formation in 2000, the state managed not to hand over power to the incumbent, and which is the key factor upon which the Congress has its confidence on.
But the BJP’s early leading in the state is showing the anti-incumbency factor did no effect in these elections.
As counting is underway in Manipur, early numbers indicate that the BJP is leading in 17 seats, while the Congress is leading in 5 assembly constituencies.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh is currently leading by 2,598 votes in the Heingang constituency.
Exit polls have mostly predicted that the BJP would be emerging as the single-largest party in Manipur.
The elections were held in two phases on February 28 and March 5 for the 60-seat Assembly. The ruling BJP and its two estranged allies — National People’s Party (NPP) and Naga People’s Front (NPF) — fought the elections separately.