Uttar Pradesh trends: BJP crosses 100 seat mark in UP
Premium- Uttar Pradesh assembly election result 2022: The BJP is ahead of the Samajwadi Party-led alliance in Uttar Pradesh
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has crossed 100 seat-mark in Uttar Pradesh, early trends show. The BJP is ahead of the Samajwadi Party-led alliance in Uttar Pradesh.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath is leading in Gorakhpur and Akhilesh Yadav is ahead in Karhal.
The stakes are highest in UP; with 80 parliamentary seats, the country's most politically important state holds the key to power at the Centre.
If the BJP wins a majority in the 403-member assembly, the party will be the first party to get a consecutive second term in over three decades.
Opinion polls have predicted a comfortable majority for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, despite the government's “much-criticised" handling of coronavirus, high unemployment, and anger over farm reforms that PM Modi cancelled last year after protests.
Uttar Pradesh is home to about a fifth of India's 1.35 billion people and sends the most legislators to parliament of any state.
It has long been said that without winning Uttar Pradesh and the neighbouring state of Bihar, no party or coalition has much hope of securing a majority in parliament. The BJP has been in power in both.
For decades, Uttar Pradesh was a stronghold of the main opposition Congress party but it has been unable to stem a slide in is popularity over recent years.
If Modi's party holds Uttar Pradesh as expected, opposition hopes of a united front to challenge him in the next general election will be dented.
A win in Uttar Pradesh would also be a seal of approval for Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath, who was surprisingly chosen as chief minister for Uttar Pradesh five year ago and is seen as a future prime ministerial candidate for the BJP.
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