News Brief
Akhilesh Yadav leads in Kannauj
As per the trends shown by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to win 33 seats, while its main rival Samajwadi Party (SP) is set to win 37 seats.
This marks quite an improvement in the Akhilesh Yadav-led party which won only five seats in 2019, while in alliance with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
SP-ally Congress is leading in five seats and has won Sitapur while BJP-ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is leading in both the seats it contested. Chandrashekhar of Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) won in Bijnor
The other BJP allies like the NISHAD Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) are not in the lead anywhere, while Apna Dal's (Soneylal) Anupriya Patel is leading in Mirzapur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading from his Varanasi constituency, while incumbent BJP MP Maneka Gandhi is trailing behind SP's Rambhual Nishad in Sultanpur.
Congress candidates Imran Masood and Tanuj Punia are leading in Saharanpur and Barabanki. Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav won in Mainpuri by a margin of 2.2 lakh votes.
The trends differ from exit polls that predicted more than three-fourths of the UP's 80 seats for the BJP.