New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has retained power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured a landslide victory in Punjab.
The BJP stormed back to power in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, trouncing its main rival Samajwadi Party, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserting that people have buried the politics of caste and religion.
The saffron party with its allies was winning or leading in 274 seats out of 403, becoming the first party in over three decades to form a government for a second consecutive time in the state.
The Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav and its allies lost after a spirited bid to dislodge the BJP,
winning or leading in 124 seats, while national parties like the Congress (two seats) and the BSP (one seat) were reduced to insignificance in the race.
As counting of votes continued late into the night, Adityanath had established a lead of 1.3 lakh votes over his nearest rival Subhawati Shukla of the SP in the Gorakhpur Urban constituency.
However, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya lost in Sirathu by 7,337 votes to SP’s Pallavi Patel.
Influential OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit the BJP and the Adityanath cabinet to join the SP ahead of the assembly elections, lost in Fazilnagar by more than 45,000 votes.
The BJP was winning or leading in 256 seats, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD party, the two allies of the BJP, are winning or leading in 12 seats and six seats respectively, according to the Election Commission (EC) website.
According to the EC website at 10.30 PM, results had been declared on 369 seats, while counting was going on 34 seats.
With its landslide victory in Punjab assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has achieved a major milestone in its journey so far and emerged as an alternative in the national politics.
The party won 92 seats in Punjab, decimating its closest rival Congress to form its government in the state with a three-fourth majority in the 117-member legislative assembly.
The strong AAP wave in Punjab saw many bigwigs trailing and losing — including Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Congress leader and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from both the seats he contested, Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, former chief minister Amarinder Singh who left the Congress to join hands with the BJP, and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The party also gained some toe hold in Goa winning two seats in the 40-member state legislative assembly, though it could not open its account in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
The AAP had contested on all seats in Punjab, Goa, Uttarkhand and Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, seeking to expand its base beyond Delhi and achieve its stated ambition to become a dominant force in national politics.
Buoyed by its performance in Punjab assembly polls, the party is now aiming to expand its base in Gujarat and Himachal Pardesh. The party will contest the assembly elections in these two states to beheld next year.
With focus on Gujarat, party plans to hold Punjab victory march in BJP-ruled Gujarat, AAP sources said.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party coasted to a clear victory in the insurgency-ridden northeastern state of Manipur, picking up 32 seats in a house of 60.
The opposition Congress in one of its worst ever performance, was reduced to just 5 seats from having the single largest party status in the 2017 elections, though Congress’s former three-times chief minister O Ibobi Singh pulled off a victory from the Thoubal seat.
The Janata Dal (United) which had not won a seat in the previous election and the National People’s Party (NPP) won six seats each, while the Naga People’s Front too bagged five seats, according to the Election Commission.
The Kuki People’s Alliance won two seats. Three seats were won by Independent candidates. At 10 pm, only one seat was yet to be decided where the NPP is leading.
BJP’s vote share this time round was a massive 37.8 per cent. Congress despite its poor showing managed a respectable 16.8 per cent.
However, jockeying over the spoils of victory remained to be decided as BJP officials said the next Chief Minister of Manipur will be named by the BJP parliamentary board along with state unit authorities.
“As a national party we have a Parliamentary Board, which in consultation with the state unit authorities, will decide who will be the next Chief Minister,” BJP state unit chief A Sharda Devi said when asked if there would be a new CM or N Biren Singh would continue.
This statement came despite the bonhomie between the two when earlier in the day, the two leaders joined other party workers in a traditional dance -Thabal Chongba – at the party headquarters.
Overcoming anti-incumbency, the BJP on Thursday emerged as the single largest party in Goa by winning 20 assembly seats, just one shy of the halfway mark, and quickly enlisted the support of regional outfit MGP and three Independent MLAs to form its government for a third consecutive term in the state. The tally of 20 was an improvement from 2017, when the BJP had won 13 seats in the 40-member assembly, where the simple majority mark is 21.
The Congress won 11 seats, down from 17 five years ago, and its ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) one, according to data on the EC website.
Three Independents also made it to the assembly. The AAP and the MGP won two seats each, while the Revolutionary Goans Party bagged one seat, the data showed.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, which had a pre-poll alliance with the MGP and carried out a high-decibel campaign ahead of the February 14 polls, drew a blank.