AS THE counting of votes is underway in Uttar Pradesh, the State which sends the highest number of MPs in Lok Sabha is witnessing a close contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA and I.N.D.I.A. bloc comprising Samajwadi Party and Congress. While BJP is ahead on 40 seats and Samajwadi Party is currently ahead on 39 seats. Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav won from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 2,21,639 votes, defeating her nearest rival BJP’s Jaiveer Singh. Her Husband and party chief Akhilesh Yadav is leading with a margin of 84,463 votes against BJP candidate Subrat Pathak. Samajwadi Party is surging ahead in Faizabad which comprises the Ayodhya Assembly seat. On BJP’s front which is ahead on 40 seats, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ahead with a huge margin against Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajai Rai in Varanasi.

 

While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to win from two constituencies, it has turned out to be a disappointing election for the other side of the family. Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting from Rae Bareli seat, was leading by a huge margin of over 3.88 lakh votes over his nearest rival Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP. In Sultanpur, Maneka Gandhi of the BJP was trailing by over 36,600 votes against Rambhual Nishad of the Samajwadi Party, according to the Election Commission data at 4.50 pm. Her son and Rahul Gandhi's cousin Varun Gandhi was not even given a ticket from the BJP. Congress, which entered into an alliance with partners across the country to form I.N.D.I.A. bloc carried out two yatras: Bharat Jodo Yatra and another is Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra under which Rahul Gandhi traversed a distance over 10,000 kilometres across the length and breadth of the country, which also witnessed participation of some of the party’s allies. These Yatras united the party and destabilised the NDA which is now evident with the Lok Sabha poll results. While the BJP which did not change the strategy to fight the elections saw a dip in its performance nationwide.

 

In Amroha, Danish Ali who recently joined the Congress ranks after quitting Bahujan Samaj Party is leading with 13,494 votes against BJP’s Kanwar Singh Tanwar. Uttar Pradesh sends a maximum of 80 seats to the Lok Sabha. The polling in the State was held in all seven phases. The exit polls had predicted that Uttar Pradesh, the State with the highest number of seats, is poised to see the BJP emerge victorious with 65 out of 80 seats. As per the poll predictions, its NDA allies in the State, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Rashtriya Lok Dal are slated to win 2 seats each which brings the NDA tally to 69 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the winner by securing the majority of seats available. Of 80 seats, the BJP won 62, followed by BSP with 10 seats, the Samajwadi Party (SP) with 5 seats, and the Apna Dal with 2 seats.