BJP sweeps UP Assembly elections with 'historic' mandate

Lucknow: The Bharatya Janata Party on Saturday swept to an unprecedented three-fourth majority in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, registering an emphatic win of 312 seats out of the total 403.

The victory left the ruling Samajwadi Party and its ally Congress punctured with just 54 seats while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was left a pathetic 19 seats. While Samajwadi Party leader and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav promptly resigned, BSP leader Mayawati attributed the rout to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which she said were manipulated.

"The historic mandate given to the BJP will give a new direction to Indian politics. It will end the politics of caste, dynasty (parivarvaad) and appeasement," BJP President Amit Shah said. The BJP, he added, would form governments in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

The Congress suffered an equally humiliating defeat in neighbouring Uttarakhand too. The BJP ousted it from power, winning 57 of the 70 seats, some of the victors being disgruntled Congress veterans who had joined the saffron outfit.

The Congress was left with just 11 legislators, with outgoing Chief Minister Harish Rawat losing both the seats he contested, one narrowly, to his BJP opponents.

Top leaders of the party, which captured power in UP with an unprecedented three-fourths majority, ascribed the win to the Modi government's "pro-poor policies" like Jan Dhan and demonetisation.
State BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya said the 'Modi wave' has catapulted the party to power in a big way.

Shah also asserted that the poll outcome will change the course of country's politics, marking the end of the politics of caste, nepotism and appeasement, and the beginning of the politics of performance.
Buoyed by the mandate received by the BJP, Modi termed it "very humbling and overwhelming" and thanked the people for their "continued faith and support".

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP's success rate enveloped both urban and rural areas and appeared to demolish traditional caste equations. BJP's success rate enveloped both urban and rural areas and appeared to demolish traditional caste equations. BJP candidates won in all major cities including Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur and Varanasi, Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.Allahabad, Kanpur and Varanasi, Modi's Lok Sabha constituency.

(With agency inputs)