The Mahagathbandhan announced by BSP chief Mayawati and SP's Akhilesh Yadav in January was expected to checkmate the BJP's dominance in Uttar Pradesh since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP had won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014.
However, the BJP has continued to lord over Uttar Pradesh's electoral map as early trends in counting of votes in the Lok Sabha polls showed. At 10.30am, the BJP was leading in 58 of the 80 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, with its ally Apna Dal ahead in one seat. The BSP was leading in 11 seats and the SP in eight.
The Congress, shockingly, is leading in only the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough of Rae Bareli, with Rahul Gandhi trailing in Amethi.
The BJP's individual vote share at 10.30am was 50 per cent according to Election Commission figures, while the BSP had a vote share of 19.5 per cent and SP a vote share of 17.5 per cent. The Congress had a vote share of just 5.8 per cent, pouring cold water over expectations that Priyanka Gandhi would boost the party's prospects.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was trailing by a slender margin of 1,900 votes against Union minister Smriti Irani. Rahul had won against Irani in 2014 by a margin of over 1 lakh votes. In Rae Bareli, Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi was leading against Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP by a margin of over 12,000 votes.
Rahul's cousin, Varun Gandhi, who is in the BJP, is leading in Pilibhit, by a margin of over 24,000 votes. However, his mother Maneka Gandhi was trailing in Sultanpur against C.B. Singh of the BSP by a margin of over 5,000 seats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to be romping home in Varanasi, leading by over 55,000 votes against Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. In Unnao, controversial BJP candidate Sakshi Maharaj was ahead by nearly 1 lakh votes against Arun Shankar Shukla of the Congress.
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SP's Akhilesh Yadav was leading in Azamgarh against BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua of the BJP by over 11,000 votes, while his father Mulayam Singh Yadav is leading in Mainpuri.
Actress-turned-politician Jayaprada is trailing in Rampur against Azam Khan of the SP by nearly 5,000 votes.
