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The BJP reigned supreme in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, bagging 62 Lok Sabha seats out of 80, while the Mahagathbandhan managed a paltry 15 seats.
With just five seats, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party repeated its 2014 performance, while Mayawati’s BSP managed to bag 10.
The only seat that went to the Congress was Raebareli (Sonia Gandhi), as party president Rahul Gandhi also lost out to Smriti Irani in Amethi.
At the national stage, PM Modi only improved upon his performance from 2014, crossing the 300-seat mark, while the Congress’ tally stood at 52.
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With Opposition parties expressing doubts over the security of EVMs, the Election Commission officials on Wednesday said that all arrangements have been made for smooth counting of votes for the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Security personnel have been deployed in large numbers across the state for the counting process, with entry of authorised people inside the counting centres being allowed only on valid passes, said election officials.
Extra precaution is being taken in about a dozen sensitive districts and prohibitory orders have been imposed, sources cited by PTI said, adding that the EC has already banned victory processions and warned that no laxity in compliance of orders would be tolerated.
A three-tier security system has been put in place at the counting centres all over the state with deployment of sufficient number of personnel from paramilitary forces and state police to ensure smooth conduct of counting and strict compliance of law and order.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) L Venkateshwarlu said all arrangements for smooth counting have been completed with proper training to the officials and staff on counting duty.
"Orders have also been issued to them to strictly follow the directives for the counting process," the CEO said.
Though trends will be available at regular intervals during the counting, results will be declared only after approval from the Election Commission, he said.
"The announcement of results this time could take a little longer with five booths in each assembly segment of the Lok Sabha constituency to be cross-examined with VVPAT slips," he said.
Actor Ravi Kishan, who is fighting from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket, offered prayers ahead of the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections 2019 on Thursday.
The state of Uttar Pradesh is witnessing some high-profile contests, with the likes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi in the fray. Here are the key contests you need to look out for:
Counting of votes has begun for the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The state is witnessing a three-cornered contest this time between the BJP, the mahagathbandhan (alliance of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal), and the Congress.
Counting of votes has stopped in Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi owing to a server problem, reported CNN-News18. The counting is expected to resume soon.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi is trailing in Congress bastion Amethi, where he is contesting against Union Minister Smriti Irani, as per early trends, CNN-News18 reported.
BJP’s Jaya Prada is leading by a margin of 2,429 votes in Rampur, where she is contesting against arch-rival Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who was earlier reportedly trailing behind BJP’s Smriti Irani, is now leading in Amethi by a margin of 1,779 votes.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is leading by over 50,000 votes in Lucknow, where he is contesting against Shatrughan Sinha’s wife Poonam Sinha.
A close contest is being fought in Congress bastion Amethi, where Smriti Irani has managed to establish a lead of more than 4,000 votes over Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan is leading by over 29,000 votes in Rampur, where he is contesting against arch-rival Jaya Prada of the BJP.
Union Minister Manoj Sinha is trailing by over 25,000 votes from Ghazipur seat, where he is contesting against BSP’s Afzal Ansari.
Enjoying a lead of 1,38,087 votes in the Gorakhpur constituency, BJP’s Ravi Kishan asserted that “a strong government of PM Narendra Modi will come to power in India”.
“It will be the beginning of a 'new India' at a very big level. The Opposition had cursed PM Modi. Now, they will curse the EVMs,” he said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is leading from Lucknow constituency, congratulated PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah for "BJP-led NDA's stupendous victory" in the Lok Sabha elections.
"Shri Modi is now all set to build a New India," Singh wrote on Twitter.
Union Minister Smriti Irani has widened her lead over Rahul Gandhi in the Congress bastion of Amethi to 9,000 votes.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is trailing by 9766 votes at 2 pm in Amethi where he is facing Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Smriti Irani has widened her lead over Rahul Gandhi in Amethi by 11,226 votes.
With the leads predicting more than 340 seats for the NDA, with 59 in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter with his 'victory' message.
Three out of the four Uttar Pradesh cabinet ministers fielded by the BJP are leading, according to the Election Commission trends.
SP Singh Baghel, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Satyadev Pachauri are leading over their rivals from their respective seats, while Mukut Bihari Verma is trailing in the latest round of counting.
Union Minister Smriti Irani has increased the lead over Rahul Gandhi in Amethi by 14,076 votes as of 3:15 pm.
Narendra Modi is leading in Varanasi by a margin of 4,09,725 votes.
Even though 3 lakh votes are yet to be counted, Congress President Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat in Amethi, and said, "I respect the decision and congratulate Smriti Irani ji."
“I hope she takes care of Amethi,” she added.
Irani has widened her lead since then to more than 35,899 votes.
BSP candidate Girish Chandra defeats BJP's Yashwant Singh in Nagina by a margin of 1,66,832 votes.
Apna Dal Candidate from Robertsganj, Pakauri Lal Kol defeats SP candidate Chhotelal by 54,336 votes.
BJP candidate from Gorakhpur, Ravi Kishan, wins by 3,01,664 votes. Says, "This is a victory of the truth. He was facing SP's Rambhul Nishad in that constituency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins Varanasi by a margin of 4.7 lakh votes. He was facing Congress’ Ajay Rai, and SP’s Shalini Yadav in that constituency.
BJP’s Smriti Irani is close to crossing the 50,000 mark with her lead over Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.
Terming the Lok Sabha poll results as unprecedented, BSP president Mayawati again raised doubts over EVMs on Thursday and indicated that her alliance with the SP and the RLD will continue.
"We had not contemplated that the alliance will fare so badly. People are not able to digest the poll results. It is against their sentiment and aspirations," she said.
Pointing fingers towards electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo said, "Several shortcomings of conducting elections through EVMs have come to our notice and there is opposition to EVMs all over the country." She added that after this results, whatever confidence people had in EVMs will disappear.
BJP leader Rajnath Singh defeats Samajwadi Party candidate Poonam Shaturghan Sinha by a large margin of 3,47,302 votes in Lucknow constituency.
BJP candidate Varun Gandhi wins from Pilibhit by 2,55,627 votes. His mother, Maneka Gandhi who is also from BJP won by a margin of 14,526 votes from Sultanpur.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wins from Raebareli by 1,67,178 votes. She was facing BJP leader Dinesh Pratap Singh from that seat.
Union Minister Smriti Irani offers prayers at a temple in Amethi where she is leading by 48,078 votes in the parliamentary constituency. Congress President Rahul Gandhi, outgoing Amethi MP, has conceded defeat.
Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav is trailing by 1,01,99 votes from Kannauj, behind BJP’s Subrat Pathak.
Published: 23 May 2019,07:41 AM IST