The ruling coalition led by the rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to keep control of India’s most populous state with a big majority, according to the count on Thursday of a state assembly vote that could offer clues to the national mood before a 2024 general election.
The coalition was leading in about 250 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, news channels reported citing counting data, while the Election Commission said the BJP was ahead in enough seats to hold on to power.
Opinion polls had predicted a comfortable majority for the BJP, despite the government’s much-criticised handling of Covid-19, high unemployment, and anger over farm reforms that Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, cancelled last year after protests.
The BJP had long forecast it would retain the northern state because of policies such as free staples for the poor during the pandemic, a crackdown on crime, and its popularity among the Hindu majority.
The party’s religious credentials were reinforced by the construction of a Hindu temple on the site of a razed mosque.
In elections in four smaller states over the past month, the Aam Aadmi Party that governs the national capital territory of Delhi is projected to win in Punjab, while the races are tight in BJP-ruled Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand.
Uttar Pradesh is home to about a fifth of India’s 1.35 billion people and sends the most legislators to parliament of any state.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean OMeara
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