BJP creates new records as it retains UP, Uttarkhand, Manipur, Goa; AAP sweeps Punjab

New Delhi [India], March 11 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained power with impressive victories in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur and was set to retain Goa too as its performance across different parts of the country created new records and gave a big jolt to Congress. In Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scored a smashing victory by getting over three-fourths seats in a multi-cornered contest.
As the counting of votes for five assembly polls began on Thursday, the BJP looked set to retain Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and AAP looked set to create a record in Punjab. The results turned as per the expectations of the party leaders.
BJP won Uttarakhand by a two-thirds majority and is poised to reach the mark in Uttar Pradesh also with its allies.
The BJP is set to win 254 seats in Uttar Pradesh. It has won 251 and is leading on three seats. The Samajwadi Party is leading on seven seats and has won 105. The Congress has been reduced to two seats and Bahujan Samaj Party is leading on one seat.
BJP's ally Apna Dal (Soneylal) has won 12 seats and NISHAD has won five seats and is leading on one seat.
SP's ally RLD has won eight seats and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has won six seats.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has won the Gorakhpur Urban seat by over one lakh votes. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav won from Karhal by a margin of over 67,000 votes.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya lost the Sirathu seat by 7,337 votes. Maurya got 98,941 seats with 43.28 per cent vote share. The Samajwadi Party's winning candidate Pallavi Patel got 1,06,278 votes with 46.49 per cent vote share.
Samajwadi Party candidate Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government and resigned from BJP weeks ahead of assembly polls, lost in Fazilnagar seat. He lost to BJP's Surendra Kumar Kushwaha by 45,014 votes.
Congress candidate Asha Singh, the mother of the Unnao rape victim lost in Unnao constituency. BJP's Pankaj Gupta won the seat by 31,128 seats.
With the BJP-led alliance set for a thumping victory in Uttar Pradesh, it will be the first time in over three decades that an incumbent government will return to power in the electorally crucial state. The party had won 312 seats in the 2017 assembly polls.
Bharatiya Janata Party won 47 seats in Uttarakhand. Congress won 18 seats and is leading on one. Independents won two seats, BSP won one and is leading on another seat.
The biggest setback for the BJP came in the form of the loss of its chief minister Puskar Singh Dhami to Congress' Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by 6,579 votes. Kapri bagged 48,177 votes with a vote share of 51.89 per cent while Dhami got 41,598 votes and 44.8 per cent vote share.
Another tall leader who suffered defeat was Congress leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat. He lost to BJP's Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes. Rawat had initially decided to contest from Ramnagar seat in Nainital district. This is the second consecutive defeat of Rawat in two assembly polls. He had lost in Haridwar (Rural) in the 2017 elections.
It is the first time that a party has retained power in Uttarakhand.
The BJP is poised for a hat-trick in power in Goa. The party, which fell one seat short of the majority figure in the coastal state, is likely to retain power in the state with the help of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Independent candidates.
The BJP won 20 seats in the 40-member state assembly and reduced Congress to 11 seats. Independent candidates bagged three seats while two seats each went to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak (MGP). Revolutionary Goans Party and Goa Forward Party (GFP) got one seat each.
BJP got a 33.31 per cent vote share in the state followed by Congress (23.46 per cent), MGP (7.60 per cent), Aam Aadmi Party (6.77) and Trinamool Congress (5.21 per cent).
Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar, who contested as an independent in the Goa Assembly elections, has lost from the Panaji constituency by 716 votes. He was up against BJP heavyweight Atanasio Monserrate.
In Goa's Bicholim, Rajesh Patnekar, BJP candidate and assembly speaker lost his seat to independent candidate Chandrakant Shetye.
AAP registered a historic victory in Punjab polls by winning a three-fourths majority with 92 seats - the highest number of seats won by any party in the state in over four decades.
It is AAP's maiden victory in the state and a vast improvement from its performance in the 2017 elections when it had finished second behind Congress.
The ruling Congress managed to secure 18 seats in the 117-member Assembly while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up with two seats. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has bagged three seats and Bahujan Samaj Party has won one.
Punjab witnessed a multi-cornered contest. Apart from Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiromani Akali Dal fought the polls in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, and Bharatiya Janata Party in alliance with Punjab Lok Congress and SAD (Sanyukt).
AAP leader Bhagwant Mann, who won the polls from Dhuri, will be the next Chief Minister of Punjab. Many senior leaders including Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh were among the prominent losers from the state.
BJP has secured a majority in Manipur, the first time the party has done so, reducing other parties to single digits.
It won 32 of 60 seats in Manipur. Congress bagged five seats and the National People's Party won seven seats. Janata Dal (United) won six seats, the Naga People's Front (5) The Kuki People's Alliance (2) and the Independents bagged three seats.
BJP secured 37.83 per cent vote share, Congress 16.83 per cent, National People's Party 17.3 per cent, Janata Dal (United) 10.77 per cent, Naga People's Front 8.1 per cent and the other parties bagged 7.53 per cent vote share.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh won by a margin of 24,814 votes from the Heingang constituency, defeating Congress candidate Pangeijam Saratchandra Singh.
Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh won by 15,085 votes from the Thoubal constituency seat. He fought against BJP's Leitanthem Basanta Singh.