Election Commission

The results of the high-voltage 2022 UP Assembly elections are out and the people of the state have given a thumping majority to the Yogi-Adityanath led BJP government. This massive mandate is seen as a thumbs-up for the governance rendered by CM Yogi Adityanath over the course of the past five years. Hence, it becomes critical for us to understand reasons behind this huge victory.

The Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections that concluded on Thursday, banked largely on the consolidation of OBC leaders in almost all the major political parties. However, the poll results have shown up shocking results as a number of prominent OBC leaders have lost their seats.

While the major political parties in Uttar Pradesh have been facing hiccups in maintaining their performance, it is the Apna Dal, led by Union Minister Anupriya Patel, that has steadfastly maintained its success rate in elections in the past decade. The Apna Dal contested 17 seats in Uttar Pradesh, and as per the latest data issued by the Election Commission, it won 12 of them.

The BJP claimed victory in the state Assembly polls, with the party which is contesting the elections on its own, leading trends on 19 seats and the Congress-Goa Forward alliance leading in 11 constituencies, according to the Election Commission of India statistics.

In a major embarrassment for two-time Punjab Chief Minister and Congress rebel Capt Amarinder Singh in a fag-end of his political career, he faced a humiliating defeat from AAP's greenhorn Ajit Pal Kohli with over 13,000 votes on Thursday from his stronghold Patiala (Urban), the seat that he has won for four consecutive terms since 2002 when he first contested.

After initially trailing his nearest Congress rival Dharmesh Saglani, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant now leads by 605 votes from the Sanquelim Assembly seat after four rounds of counting, even as deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar continues to trail his Congress rival Altone D'Costa by 2,800 votes in the Quepem Assembly seat.

In the wake of show of strength displayed by former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on her birthday on March 8 and the controversial statements made by her supporters, Rajasthan BJP in-charge Arun Singh issued a warning to such workers.

As per the early counting trends, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat is now trailing by over 7,000 votes from his nearest rival BJP's Mohan Singh Bisht in the Lal Kuan constituency. At 10.30 a.m. as per the Election Commission data, Rawat got 7,939 votes while the BJP candidate is leading with 14,724 votes. Rawat was a top contender for the Chief Minister's post if Congress gains a majority.

The BJP is showing an upper hand in Uttar Pradesh with around 38.9 per cent of total vote share as it leads in 48 seats and Samajwadi Party trails in 24 seats, as per the Election Commission website. The counting of votes was underway, which began at 8 a.m. on Thursday in the crucial five state Assembly polls. Punjab showed 40.3 per cent support for the AAP with lead in 39 seats while Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal were leading in five seats each, BJP and an Independent candidate leading in 1 seat each.

Prominent faces who were trailing in the first two hours of counting of ballots included five-time former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal from his bastion Lambi; Congress chief ministerial candidate and incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi on both seats -- Chamkaur Sahib, a reserved seat that he has won three consecutive times, and Bhadaur in Barnala district; and Congress state unit chief Navjot Sidhu from Amritsar (East), the seat that came into being after 2012 delimitation and has backed Sidhu and his namesake wife -- Navjot Kaur.