DNA Exclusive: Voting in UP's Awadh - can BJP repeat its stunning 2017 show?

Uttar Pradesh voted for 59 assembly seats in its 9 districts today. All the districts, except Banda and Pilibhit, where voting took place fall in UP's Awadh region. The Bharatiya Janata Party - in a stunning performance - had won 51 out of 59 seats here last time. The SP had won 4 seats, while the BSP and Congress have won 2 seats each here.

In today's DNA, Zee News Editor-In-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary analyses the voting pattern and election arithmetic that might have impacted voter's mood in the Awadh region. UP's seven districts - Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Barely and Fatehpur - fall in the Awadh region.

As per the analysis made by Zee News' team of on-ground journalists, it appears that the BJP might repeat its stellar 2017 performance once again in this region.

The trends show that the SP posed a tough challenge in front of BJP in the first two phases, however, the Akhilesh Yadav-led party is struggling to make gains in rest of the phases.

In the previous phases, the Samajwadi Party extended its typical Muslim + Yadav vote banks formula to combine J + S/M+K+G or Jat+Saini+Maurya+Kurmi+Gurjar vote banks in its favour.  

However, the BJP, too changed its strategy this time.

The ruling party triumphed SP's formula with its new T + B + B + L + K + S (Thakur+Brahaman+Baniya+Lodhi+Kurmi+Shakya) experiment. The BJP fielded 17 OBCs, 16 Dalits, 9 Brahmins, 9 Thakurs, 6 Baniyas and 1 Sikh and Kayastha candidates.

The BJP looks in a comfortable position in this region.

Watch DNA with Sudhir Chaudhary for the most detailed analysis of the 5th phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh.