The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintains a lead in 59 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, successfully demolishing the poll arithmetic myth of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) which managed to secure 20 seats.
The state that BJP had captured in 2014, is on the way to bust caste code of the Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. This is the first time when the SP and the BSP -- relying on Yadav, Muslim, and Jatav votes -- are ending on losing side even after fighting together.
At the time of filing the report, the BJP candidates were leading in at least 30 seats perceived to be MGB strongholds. The only constituencies where the MGB is seen to be wresting seats from the BJP are mainly Muslim-dominated pockets like Nagina, Amroha, Ghazipur, Rampur and Moradabad.
Among other MGB stronghold seats, BJP is trailing in Ballia, Sambhal, Kairana (the SP is leading on all three), Jaunpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Machlishahar, and Bhadohi (the BSP is leading on all).
The BJP had won 71 out of 80 seats in the state in 2014. Defying all the arithmetic, the party is leading on 59 seats as per the trends at 4.50 pm.
