The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) unprecedented victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election means it would be the first time in 37 years that an incumbent party that ran the government for full five years in the state has been voted to power for a second consecutive term.
The incumbent Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the BJP to victory after a high-decibel election campaign with thrust on the party's development agenda at the Centre and in the state, along with welfarism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the BJP's campaign in the politically crucial state ahead of 2024 general election, said after the victory at BJP headquarters in Delhi, that the verdict was a stamp on the saffron party's pro-poor governance.
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The BJP has won four out of five states that went to polls between February 10 and March 7.
In UP while the BJP was leading at more than 274 seats, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party was leading in 124 seats, a considerable improvement from 47 seats in 2017.
After the President's rule that lasted about four months, the Congress came to power in Uttar Pradesh consecutively in 1980 and 1985 assembly elections with an absolute majority. VP Singh, Sripati Mishra, ND Tiwari and Vir Bahadur Singh were the chief ministers of UP during the Congress rule between 1980 and 1988.
The Congress party has been reduced to mere two seats in the 403-member UP Assembly in 2022.
After 1988, Uttar Pradesh witnessed political instability with multiple political parties, including the SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party, and the BJP ruling the state in the subsequent years. In 2000, the BJP came to power by forming an alliance with the BSP and Rajnath Singh, now Union Defence Minister, was sworn in as the chief minister. The government, however, could last only for one year and 131 days till March 2002 when the BSP withdrew support breaking the alliance.
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While UP continued to be ruled between the SP and the BSP for next fifteen years, the BJP swept the state assembly polls winning more than 312 seats in 2017. Yogi Adityanath, who was an MP from Gorakhpur till then, became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
In the UP Assembly elections 2022, held in seven phases between February 10 to March 7, the BJP has again won a historic mandate.
(With agency inputs)
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