Assembly Elections 2022 Results: BJP secures UP, Uttarakhand, Goa & Manipur; landslide win for AAP in Punjab

The counting for the much-awaited results of Assembly elections in five states – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur are underway.

Leads now show that Yogi Aadityanath is set for a second term with the BJP crossing the 270-mark in the state that can be the tone-setter for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party is doing better than in 2017 but will likely be a distant second leading in 120 odd seats.

The Aam Aadmi Party is all set to sweep the 117 seat Punjab assembly polls, giving the Arvind Kejriwal-led party a second home after Delhi. It is leading in 85 seats.

In Uttarakhand and Goa, poll watchers expected a neck and neck fight between the BJP and Congress but the BJP has the upper hand now, especially in the former where it has gone past the necessary majority mark in the 70-seat battle.

In Goa too it is leading in 17 seats in the 40-seat assembly with the Cong ahead in 13. In Manipur, the BJP has hit the majority mark leading in 22 out of the 44 seats All results, for now, are mapping what the exit polls suggested broadly. 

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Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday reiterated that his party will take independents and regional parties along to form the next government in Goa.

Fadnavis, who is BJP’s election in-charge for Goa, thanked the people of the state for reposing trust in the party and dedicated its poll performance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP has won 20 seats in the state, just one short of the magic figure of 21 required to form a majority in the 40-member assembly.

Speaking to reporters in Goa, Fadnavis said, “The BJP is again winning nearly 20 seats in Goa and we may win a couple of seats more. It is the continuation of the trust reposed by the people of Goa in our leader PM Narendra Modi.” Replying to a query about when the party intends to stake claim to form the government, Fadnavis said, “The decision will be taken after BJP’s parliamentary board informs us about it. It is a standard procedure.” “I want to thank the people of Goa for their support. Even if we get majority, we will still take independents as well as other regional parties along with us to form the government,” he said.

Three independent candidates won the Goa election this time, while the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) won two seats. On Wednesday, Fadnavis had said that the BJP was confident of getting the support from the MGP as both the parties are “ideologically aligned”.

With the BJP looking set to secure a straight second term in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday appeared to have successfully busted what was dubbed as the "Noida jinx".

Adityanath also looked set for a victory from Gorakhpur Urban seat while all three BJP candidates in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, appeared set for win, according to poll trends.

Noida, Dadri and Jewar Assembly constituencies fall in the district.

A myth was nurtured for nearly three decades that any chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who visited Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar district was doomed to go out of power.

In recent history, Mayawati, who took oath as the UP CM in March 2007, had visited Noida in November that year to attend the wedding of close aide Satish Mishra's relative.

However, the BSP supremo's bold move, which was seen as a myth-buster at the time, was followed by her ouster from power from the state in 2012.

Mayawati hails from Badalpur village in Greater Noida.

Her predecessors Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, BJP's Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh had also avoided visiting Noida during their chief ministership.

Mulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav, who became the CM in 2012, had continued the trend of avoiding in-person visit to Noida, often dubbed as the show window to Uttar Pradesh.

In 2013, former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the Asian Development Bank Summit organised in Noida, when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was the chief guest.

The "Noida jinx" took root after chief minister Veer Bahadur Singh had to step down in June 1988, a few days after he returned from Noida.

Yogi Adityanath, who had stormed to power in UP in 2017, has visited Noida nearly a dozen times since becoming