The ruling BJP secured a sweeping victory after winning 33 out of 36 seats in the biennial elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council or upper house.
The candidates of the ruling party were already elected unopposed on nine of the 36 council seats. The nine seats are Budaun, Hardoi, Kheri, Mirzapur-Sonbhadra, Banda-Hamirpur, Aligarh, Bulandshahr and Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri. Voting for the remaining 27 seats was held on April 9.
Before the polls, the BJP had 34 MLCs, the Samajwadi Party (SP) 17 and the Bahujan Samaj Party four in the 100-member Legislative Council.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the victory has once again established that people of the state have faith in Prime Minister Modi’s leadership.
Taking to Twitter, he said the BJP’s victory in the polls has once again made it clear that under the leadership of the PM Modi, people of the state are with nationalism, growth and good governance.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party failed to open its account. Its candidate from the Deoria-Kushinagar seat Kafeel Khan also suffered defeat at the hands of Ratanpal Singh of the BJP. Khan, a paediatrician from Uttar Pradesh, was jailed earlier after several children died allegedly due to an oxygen crisis at a Gorakhpur hospital in 2017.
According to the Election Commission of India, an average polling percentage of 98.11 was recorded in the state. Rae Bareli registered the highest voter turnout at 99.35 per cent and Gorakhpur the lowest at 96.50 per cent.
The BJP, which created history by coming back to power in Uttar Pradesh for a second straight term in the recent state polls, is seeking to become the single-largest party in the House and enjoy a majority in both Houses of the state legislature.
