AAP Sweeps Punjab; BJP To Retain UP, Uttarakhand And Manipur; Close Fight In Goa

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared set to retain three states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur — as votes were being counted on Thursday in the latest round of assembly elections in five states, even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was on its way to get its first full state to rule in Punjab, and Goa remained a tight race.

The BJP was leading in 267 seats against 119 of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, while the AAP, an outfit not even a decade old, took a big lead in Punjab, according to trends by 12:15pm.

In Uttarakhand, the BJP was leading in 43 seats, while the Congress was ahead in 23. In Goa, the ruling BJP was ahead in 18 seats, and the Congress was leading in 12 seats, as per trends and results available for the 40-member assembly.

In Punjab, the AAP was ahead in 88 out of 117 seats, with several heavyweights, including chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, trailing behind its nominees. Channi was trailing in both Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur seats. Former chief ministers Parkash Singh Badal, Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal were also trailing. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal was also behind in his Jalalabad seat.

“Punjab has proven that it likes the Arvind Kejriwal-Bhagwant Mann pair, and no other party’s pair… all other parties tried to defame us and called Kejriwal ji a terrorist, but public proved that he is a ‘shikshak-wadi’,” the AAP’s Punjab co-incharge Raghav Chadha said.

AAP leader and Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said, “Punjab has accepted Kejriwal’s model of governance. It has gained recognition at the national level. People in the entire country will seek this model of governance.”

In UP, among those leading were chief minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal, Shivpal Yadav from Jaswant Nagar, and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu.

With a favourable result in India’s most populous and politically crucial state – easily the biggest electoral prize after the Lok Sabha polls – experts say the BJP will consolidate its position as the national political hegemon.

By 12:15 pm, about 17% votes had been counted in UP. In Punjab, 43% votes were counted, while in Uttarakhand, close to 33% votes had been counted. The figure stood at 69% in Goa and 41% in Manipur.

The BJP, which is the incumbent party in four states, was earlier predicted to win in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur. Exit polls threw up mixed forecast for Uttarakhand and Goa.

In Manipur, the BJP was ahead in 22 seats and the Congress in three constituencies in the initial rounds of counting.

Assembly elections were held in Uttar Pradesh from February 10 to March 7 in seven phases. Goa and Uttarakhand went to the polls on February 14. Assembly polls in Punjab were held on February 20. The elections in Manipur were conducted in two phases on February 28 and March 5.

If the trends hold, chief minister Yogi Adityanath will emerge as a popular leader in Uttar Pradesh, and among the most prominent in the BJP stable across the country. If the BJP returns to power in UP – no exit poll gave the advantage to the Samajwadi Party (SP)-led Opposition alliance – it will be the first party in a generation to complete a full term and return to power in the state.

If the AAP wins Punjab – the party was poised to do well in the 2017 assembly elections as well but ended up with only 22 seats in the 117-member assembly – it will get the first full state to rule, and expand its base outside the national capital.

Around 115 million votes for 690 seats spread across five states were being counted on Thursday. The counting began at 8 am at centres across the country that were sanitised for Covid-19. With a special focus on Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission of India implemented a “three-layered security” to combat any form of “rumour mongering, disinformation and breach of protocol” during counting of votes, officials said.

On Thursday, the Election Commission said, “Viewing the current status of Covid-19 in polled states, the Commission has decided to relax the guidelines on victory processions during and after the counting and has withdrawn the blanket ban on victory processions.”

Most exit polls predicted that the BJP was set to return to power with a comfortable majority and the SP a distant second, despite an improved showing. In 2017, the BJP won 312 seats and around 40% of the votes – a feat considered impossible at the time.

The results in Punjab may have greater bearing on the national Opposition space. In the state, where the BJP is a marginal player, the campaign was largely confined to the incumbent Congress, the AAP and the Akali Dal-BSP alliance. The BJP tied up with ousted chief minister Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress but appeared to be limited to small pockets of influence.