BJP won 255 seats in the 403-member House, comfortably crossing the magic figure. However, in 2017, the party had bagged 312 seats.
New Delhi: Becoming the first Chief Minister to return to power and steer his party to make it win the second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh, BJP’s blue-eyed boy Yogi Adityanath created a record of sorts in the state. The saffron party is the first since 1985 in Uttar Pradesh to retain power in the state.
BJP won 255 seats in the 403-member House, comfortably crossing the magic figure. However, in 2017, the party had bagged 312 seats and this time, Samajwadi Party (SP) managed to bite into the saffron party’s share and win 111 seats. In 2017, SP had won only 47 seats.
However, in terms of vote share, BJP has put up a better performance. In 2017, BJP had 39.67% votes while this time, according to the Election Commission of India’s website, it has garnered 41.29% votes. SP’s vote share has also increased from 21.82% in 2017 to 32.06% this time.
Meanwhile, both Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress put up a poor show by managing to win only one and two seats, respectively. In 2017, BSP had 19 seats and a vote share of 22.23% and Congress had seven seats and a 6.25% vote share. This time, BSP’s vote share has slipped to 12.88% while that of Congress has plummeted to 2.33%.
Taking to Twitter, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said his party has managed to increase both its seat and its vote share and took it as an encouragement and asked all the winning candidates to work for the people.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was leading the Grand Old Party’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh, said, although her party could not transform the hard work into votes, it will continue to work for the people of Uttar Pradesh.
BSP supremo Mayawati was quoted by ANI as saying, “UP election results are opposed to BSP’s expectations. We should not be discouraged by it. Instead we should learn form it, introspect and carry forward our party movement, and come back to power.”
Meanwhile, congratulating Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the victory has ushered in the early celebrations of Holi in Uttar Pradesh. Taking to Twitter, Yogi Adityanath said this is a victory of democracy.
Uttar Pradesh had witnessed polling in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 amid a fierce battle between BJP and Samajwadi Party. Candidates of other main political parties — Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) — were also in the fray. The exit polls had predicted a victory for BJP in the election while Samajwadi Party was said to be the principal Opposition party.
