Yogi Adityanath, contesting 1st state polls, wins stronghold by 50,000 votes

Yogi Adityanath, contesting his first state election in Uttar Pradesh, has won from his home turf by over 50,000 votes . The 49-year-old – fielded by the BJP from Gorakhpur (Urban) – has won the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat for five terms (1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014).

Earlier there was speculation that the chief minister will contest from Ayodhya with the Ram temple construction being a core poll issue for the BJP. Despite the opposition’s claims that the state was hit by an anti-incumbency wave, the BJP is past then 250-mark in the early trends after the counting of votes began at 8 am on Thursday.

Yogi Adityanath faced criticism last year over the handling of the second wave of the pandemic which had hit UP hard. Photos of bodies at the banks of river Ganga were shared by the opposition leaders as they said that the official figures did not account for the deaths of many more people who had died due to Covid. Also, there were rumblings that several party leaders had also wanted a change in leadership. However, in the months ahead of polls, Yogi Adityanath was seen campaigning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah among other BJP leaders as a show of strength.

The seven-phased elections in the state were held between February 10 and March 7. Exit polls too had predicted an easy win for the BJP, which has claimed that it has been able to fight the lawlessness that was prevailing in the earlier regimes. A win in UP gives the ruling party a boost ahead of the 2024 national elections. Apart from UP, the BJP has been able to move past the halfway mark in Uttarakhand too.