NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and ruling BJP’s Hindutva poster boy Yogi Adityanath took massive leads in his Gorakhpur constituency shortly after the counting of votes for the assembly elections 2022 began on Thursday.
According to the available trends, CM Yogi was racing ahead in Gorakhpur. CM Adityanath is fighting his first assembly election after being the MP of the area for two decades. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has pitted Subhavati Shukla, a homemaker and the widow of late BJP leader Upendra Dutt Shukla, against CM Yogi.
CM Yogi’s party and its alliance dominated the trends as it was leading in over 180 seats. The party is also seeing massive gains in the western region, even as the opposition tried to build their campaign on alleged Jat and Muslim anger in Uttar Pradesh.
The counting of votes for the Assembly elections 2022 in five crucial states - Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand - is currently underway amid unprecedented security arrangements put in place by the Election Commission.
More than 50,000 officials have been deployed for the counting of votes at nearly 1,200 halls in the five states and COVID-9 guidelines will be followed during the exercise that began at 8 AM amid tight security.
Uttar Pradesh, which has a maximum of 403 assembly constituencies, is having more than 750 counting halls, followed by Punjab over 200. Over 650 counting observers have been deployed in the five states to monitor the process. Video and static cameras have been installed at all the counting centres in UP, an official said in Lucknow.
A total of 250 companies of CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) have been provided to all the districts and commissionerates of Uttar Pradesh on March 10, the police said. According to officials, a CAPF company usually has around 70-80 personnel.
It is a high-stakes election in Uttar Pradesh for the BJP and the Narendra Modi government as the state sends the highest number of 80 MPs to Lok Sabha and the party's performance is expected to have a bearing on the next general election slated for 2024.
Several exit polls have forecast a clear majority for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, while predicting a hung assembly in Goa and a tight race between the BJP and the Congress in Uttarakhand. Except for Punjab, all other states were under the BJP.
If the BJP gets a majority in the 403-member Assembly, it would be the first party to get a consecutive second term in over three decades.
As the post-poll scenario could throw up surprises due to multi-cornered contests, the parties have dispatched senior leaders to the states and were also wooing other parties to ensure that they get the better of their rival claimant in case outside support is needed to form a government.
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