Lucknow: The much-awaited results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will be declared today. The counting of votes which started at 8 a.m. will continue till its completion.
The state has witnessed a multi-cornered contest with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Congress, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as prime contenders. Early trends show that the BJP is all set to retain power as it has already crossed the halfway mark.
| Alliance | Lead+Win |
| BJP | 255 |
| SP | 111 |
| BSP | 1 |
| Congress | 2 |
| Apna Dal (Soneylal) | 12 |
Live updates
- 7:40 pm: Akhilesh Yadav wins Karhal seat with margin of 67,504 votes.
- 7:35 pm: BJP president JP Nadda says, “The election results have put a stamp on the schemes launched by PM Modi. People have continuously voted for BJP. Since 2014 people are blessing BJP. This is the first time that a Chief Minister came into power again in UP.”
- 7:26 pm:PM Narendra Modi arrives at BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
- 7:23 pm: Owaisi also said, “It’ll be a sad day for democracy if Bahujan Samaj Party dissolves. BSP has had a big role in India’s democracy. We hope that the party gets stronger. Today’s result definitely shows weakness, but BSP is needed.”
- 6:59 pm: AIMIM chief Akbaruddin Owaisi said, “UP public has decided to give power to BJP; I respect the decision of public. I thank AIMIM’s state pres, workers, members, &the public who voted for us. We’ll work hard again. The elections were an 80-20 win for BJP.”
- 6:32 pm: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrives at BJP headquarters.
- 6:30 pm: Home Minister Amit Shah arrives at BJP headquarters in Delhi.
- 6:23 pm: BJP national president JP Nadda arrives at BJP headquarters in Delhi.
- 6:01 pm: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath arrives at the BJP office in Lucknow.
- 03:40 pm: All 8 seats in Lakhimpur Kheri district won by BJP.
- 03:22 pm: NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, “Akhilesh Yadav was not at fault, he contested on his own. He shouldn’t think about the polling results as he has higher stature in this country. He has fought better than before.”
- 03:02 pm: Mohd Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam are leading in Rampur and Suar respectively.
- 02:49 pm: Adityanath leading from Gorakhpur seat by over 31,000 votes
- 02:12 pm: BJP leads in Lakhimpur Kheri
- 02:08 pm: In Unnao, Congress candidate Asha Singh, the mother of rape survivor was completely defeated. She secure just 438 votes.
- 01:26 pm: We already knew that BJP will form govt, says Hema Malini.
- 01:00 pm: Yogi Adityanath set to become fifth CM to win second consecutive term in UP
- 12:02 pm: Keshav Prasad Maurya is trailing in Sirathu
- 11:28 am: Abdullah Azam Khan is leading in Suar Assembly Constituency.
- 11:10 am: SP supremo arrived at lucknow party office.
- 11:00 am: BJP maintains strong lead.
- 10:30 am: As per early trends, BJP set to form govt, break 37-year record. Since 1985, no CM has been re-elected in UP.
- 10:05 am: In Rampur assembly constituency, Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan is leading
- 09:45 am: In early trends, BJP crosses majority mark in UP
- 09:30 am: In early trends, BJP moving closer to majority mark in UP
- 09:00 am: Congress UP chief Ajay Kumar Lallu is trailing
- 08:54 am: Both Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath leading in their constituencies.
- 08:35 am: Om Prakash Rajbhar trailing.
- 08:30 am: BJP takes an early lead.
- 08:00 am: Counting began.
What exit polls say?
In 2017 assembly polls, BJP along with its alliance partners garnered 325 seats. Apna Dal and OP Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) were part of the BJP+ alliance. BJP alone had won 312 seats whereas Apna Dal got nine and SBSP bagged four seats.
SP, which held the government then, reduced to 47 seats. Notably, SP and Congress contested the 2017 elections together and Congress could only manage to get seven seats. Further, BSP had bagged just 19 seats in that election while RLD won just one seat.
In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly, the majority mark is 202 and the exit polls predicted that the BJP is poised to comfortably return to power with its allies for an unprecedented second term with most of them stating that the party’s tally would be less than that in 2017 elections.
The Samajwadi Party (SP), which fought the polls with RLD and some other parties, would improve its performance, the exit polls predicted.
