UP election results 2017: Watch India Today Live TV for the latest updates
Watch India Today Live TV for latest updates on Assembly election results from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa:
The Bharatiya Janata Party may have won both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but it's the massive victory in UP that will rank as the jewel in its crown in the current elections.
The election results not only underscores Prime Minister Modi's hold over large parts of the country's electorate, it also underlines the BJP's emergence as the preeminent pan-India party stretching out far and wide at the expense of the Congress .
In the short term, the victory in Uttar Pradesh will be seen as an endorsement of Prime Minister Modi's initiatives, including his controversial demonetisation decision.
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It will also help the BJP to have a man or woman of its choice as the president and vice-president of the country, as President Pranab Mukherjee's term expires in third week of July and vice-president Hamid Ansari's term expires in August.
In the Vajpayeee era, it had managed to get Bhairon Singh Shekhawat elected as the vice-president but this will be the first time that the party will have a candidate of its choice as the next president of the country.
Bolstered by its victories, the BJP can hope to convert this into a majority in the Rajya Sabha by April next year, thereby ensuring an easy passage of its legislative agenda in both houses of Parliament.
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