The BJP continued its march through Uttar Pradesh. The party had come down from 73 of the state’s 80 seats in 2014 to 50 with ally Apna Dal now, but it was clear indication that the BSP-SP coalition had not worked on the ground.
The Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav alliance and the Congress where ahead in just two seats.
Varun Gandhi, who contested from Pilibhit and state minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, contesting from Allahabad, were ahead of their nearest rivals.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family was doing well. Mulayam Singh Yadav was ahead in Mainpuri, Akhilesh Yadav in Azamgarh and his wife Dimple Yadav in Kannauj.
But the outcome was humiliating for the alliance as also for the Congress, which conducted a high-powered campaign after inducting and making Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. But it was apparent that the Priyanka Gandhi factor had not helped.
Analysts said the Congress’s solo entry after Mayawati kept it out of the alliance helped split the non-BJP votes.
A big shocker for the Congress was in its stronghold of Amethi, where BJP candidate Smriti Irani was ahead of Congress president Rahul Gandhi by over 2,000 votes.
Sonia Gandhi was leading from Rae Bareli by 19,435 votes.
In Varanasi, Narendra Modi was leading over Shalini Yadav of the SP by 2,19,563 votes. Congress candidate Ajay Rai was in third position.
In Lucknow, Rajnath Singh was leading over the SP’s Poonam Shatrughan Sinha by 1,81,570 votes.
Hema Malini of the BJP was leading over the RLD’s Kunwar Narendra Singh in Mathura by over 11,000 votes.
In Sultanpur, Maneka Gandhi was trailing to the BSP’s Chandra Bhadra Singh Ssonu by a little over a 1,000 votes after leading earlier.
In Rampur, Jaya Prada was trailing Mohammad Azam Khan of the SP by over 70,000 votes.
