The results of the assembly elections held in Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will be declared on March 10, 2022. In the most populous state of UP, incumbent BJP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been predicted to come back to power by many post-poll surveys.
The BJP is expected to comfortably cross the majority mark of 203 seats in the 404-seat UP Vidhan Sabha.
In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party led by Bhagwant Mann has been predicted to come to power claiming a comfortable majority in the 117 seat Vidhan Sabha.
Many pollsters have predicted a hung assembly in Uttarakhand with the incumbent BJP and Congress polling similar numbers in the 70-seat assembly.
Goa also promises to be a close race with the incumbent BJP and Congress giving each other a tough fight in the 40-seat assembly.
The BJP's N. Biren Singh is favoured to come back to power in Manipur but many pollsters predict that the BJP will fall just short of an absolute majority in the state.
Controversy erupted before counting day in UP with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of stealing VVPAT machines in the state.
The allegation was made after videos showing counting machines in trucks in Varanasi, two days before counting.
"We were getting information that a principal Secretary to the Chief Minister was calling District Magistrates, saying 'counting should be slow wherever the BJP is losing'. "Now that the EVMs have been caught, the officials will make multiple excuses," Yadav told the media.
Varanasis Commissioner Deepak Agarwal said that the vote machines in question were only for training purposes.
"If you talk about the protocol for the movement of EVMs, there was a lapse in the protocol, I accept that. But I can guarantee you, it is impossible to take away machines used in voting," Agarwal said, adding that there were CCTV cameras, security guards and political party representatives at counting centres.
While the BJP may not have made big wins in Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the party workers in the state have made a mark in 'adverse circumstances'. "They raised the party's flag in adverse circumstances. They will be key in developing the strenghth of BJP in Punjab and the country in the coming times," he said while addressing the party workers in Delhi.
The AAP has made landmark victory in Punjab polls by winning 92 seats of the total 117. The Congress follows with 18 seats, while the BJP has won just two. The Shiromani Akali Dal managed to win only 3 seats, according to the Election Commission.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ahead in four of the five states that went to polls last month, trends from the Election Commission of India show. The BJP has crossed the halfway mark in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Uttarakhand, while in Goa, they are close to the half-way mark with the party leading in 19 seats out of 40 assembly seats. Read full story here.
With the Congress facing drubbing in Assembly elections, BJP leader and union minister Smriti Irani said that while Priyanka Gandhi has 'destroyed the party' in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul does not have strength to 'learn from his mistakes'. Earlier, Rahul had tweeted accepting the party's defeat.
In a bittersweet moment for the BJP in Uttarakhand, the party is winning big there, but chief minister Prakash Dhami is losing in his constituency.
Of the five states that went to elections in February and March, the BJP has maintained a comfortable lead on four of them--Manipur, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. In Punjab, the AAP has made huge win, with Bhagwant Mann set to take reins as the chief minister of the state.
In North Goa, the BJP has won 10 seats, Congress six and one each by MGP, Revolutionary Goans Party, and an Independent candidate, North Goa collector Ajit Roy told ANI.
As the BJP looks ahead to a comfortable win in Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath arrived at party office in Lucknow where he was welcomed by a huge crowd of party workers. Adityanath has won the Gorakhpur Urban seat.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath arrives at the BJP office in Lucknow; received by a huge crowd of party workers. #UttarPradeshElections pic.twitter.com/OgO9wLMMyI
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 10, 2022
In an anti-climax, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has lost in Khatima to the Congress' Bhuwan Chandra Kapri. Though the BJP has romped to a victory, Dhami polled 40,675 votes to Kapri's 47,626 votes. Also a shock loss is that of former Congress CM Harish Rawat who is losing from Lalkuwa by a huge margin.