File photo of an AAP election rally in Punjab (Source AAP website)
New Delhi: While the Aam Aadmi Party got an unprecedented thumping majority in Punjab, winning 92 out of the 117 assembly seats in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand.
The party won 255 seats in the 403 member UP House. Its allies, Apna Dal (Sone Lal) bagged 12 seats, while Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal won 6 seats in the State. Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath won from Gorakhpur Urban Assembly Constituency, securing 165499 votes (66.18%) while his nearest rival Subhawati Shukla, secured 62, 109 (24.84%) votes.
The Samajwadi Party emerged as the main Opposition party in Uttar Pradesh. It had bagged 111 seats and its allies, the Rashtriya Lok Dal won 8 seats, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party won 6 seats. The Congress Party could win only 2 seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party won in one constituency. Former Chief Minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav won the Karhal Assembly seat, defeating his nearest BJP rival Professor SP Singh Baghel. Akhilesh secured a total 60.12 per cent vote. The Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, launched by Raghuraj Pratap Singh, commonly known as Raja Bhaiya, in November 2018, matched the Congress performance by winning two seats.
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The only state that surrendered to a non-BJP mandate was Punjab, which AAP swept, securing 92 of the 117 seats. The ruling Congress was reduced to a poor runner-up and managed to secure only 18 seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal secured three seats. AAP has nominated its leader Bhagwant Mann as the next chief minister for the state. Mann addressed the people thanking them for the clear mandate and vowed to work towards helping the state on its development path. Mann secured a comfortable victory from the Dhuri assembly segment by a margin of 58,000 votes.
In Uttarakhand, the BJP returned to power by securing 47 out of the 70 seats belying the exit polls’ predictions that suggested the Congress Party winning the state. Interestingly, the sitting Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami of the BJP and former CM and Congress leader Harish Rawat, who was being seen as a likely CM in case of a Congress win, lost elections.
In Goa, the local Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) having won two seats, in addition to the support from three independent candidates, gave the Goa BJP the fillip to be past the goal post in the state assembly polls. The BJP, which has already bagged 20 seats is comfortably posed. They have 25 MLAs in the 40 member state assembly.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, the party’s in-charge of the Goa campaign, pronounced that the Party will be shortly forming the government in the state after seeking due permission from the Governor. Also, the Central Parliamentary Board of BJP is expected to meet soon to nominate observers and hold consultations before the Party legislators visit the Governor.
Earlier in the day, the situation was somewhat neck to neck between the BJP and Congress in Goa till the race gave way in favour of the saffron brigade. The electoral gain got consolidated in favour of BJP after hectic parlaying with independent candidates ensured a safe numbers game for the Party.
The participation of Trinamool Congress (debutants in the state) and Aam Admi Party (AAP) made little difference to the poll fray, with both failing to make much headway. Incumbent BJP Chief Minister Pramod Sawant of the BJP expressed his confidence about government formation early afternoon when the counting was almost completed for all constituencies.
In Manipur, the ruling saffron alliance romped home with BJP crossing the halfway mark and securing 31 of the 60 seats in the state assembly. The incumbent BJP chief minister, N Biren Singh comfortably marched past his Congress rival in the hustings by a margin of 18,271 votes. It may be recalled that the local BJP leaders were resentful of MLAs from other political parties being included in the ruling benches owing to strong ideological differences over “nationalism” during the previous assembly’s tenure.
It was a marked improvement for the BJP as its tally in the previous state elections had stood at 21 in contrast with the Congress having won 28 seats. While the saffron Party’s vote share had increased significantly, simultaneously there was a dip in the Congress vote share in the current round of polls held in Manipur. State BJP president Sarda Devi expressed jubilation over the Party’s success in the numbers game. She also expressed satisfaction with the Party’s performance in defeating prominent opposition candidates like Congress President Loken Singh and NPP deputy Chief Minister Joykumar.
The exit polls which had predicted a saffron win in both the states were vindicated by the Party’s performance today. There were wild partying and celebrations at the residence of CM N Biren Singh as the poll results became a clear mandate in favour of the BJP.
– global bihari bureau with inputs from Venkatesh Raghavan
