Uttar Pradesh Exit Poll 2019 Live: With predictions showing advantage BJP, Narendra Modi may not feel any UP-set!
UP has posed a formidable challenge with the caste alliances of the SP-BSP-RLD gathbandhan. However, if exit polls hold, this has not UP-set the BJP's strength in India's largest state.
India’s most populous state, which has given the country its maximum number of prime ministers, and which alone has 80 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in its kitty, was one of the biggest contributors to the BJP’s landslide victory of 2014.
It is for this reason that UP remained top priority for all major players this time too.
If the exit polls results hold, the BJP could win as many as 62-68 seats in UP when the results come out on May 23. The Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav combine, meanwhile, is likely to get 10-16 seats. The Congress, on the other hand, is likely to get 1-2 seats.
Watch Uttar Pradesh Exit Poll 2019 Live:
Uttar Pradesh was the first state to blow the poll bugle with Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav announcing a seat-sharing pact for the 2019 General Elections, with 38 seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 38 seats to the Samajwadi Party (SP) and two seats to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The SP later went on to part with another seat in favour of the RLD.
When the seat-sharing pact was announced, everybody thought the game had slipped out of the BJP’s hands, given that the caste arithmetic apparently favoured the SP-BSP-RLD alliance. The game soon became even more interesting with the Congress announcing the formal entry of Priyanka Gandhi as general secretary in-charge of east UP into the party.
As reporters reached the ground, there were reports of the BJP government’s schemes working for people with many getting gas cylinders and money to build houses.
According to the exit poll results, it looks like the BJP has managed to undo a lot of caste alliance-based harm through its welfare and development schemes.
UP went to the polls in all seven phases given the sheer size of the state.
There is also a sense on the ground that UP, much like West Bengal, has witnessed some silent voting.
So, we may not know the whole picture till we have the final results on May 23. But initial reports suggest that the BJP has far less to be UP-set about than what was earlier thought.