Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022: Day of judgement brings high-stakes battle for BJP, SP

Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022: Day of judgement brings high-stakes battle for BJP, SP

S Kamran HusainUpdated: Wednesday, March 09, 2022, 11:45 PM IST
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Bareilly: Police personnel on duty outside a strong room, where EVMs are kept, a day before counting of votes for UP Assembly polls, in Bareilly, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. | (PTI Photo)

Lucknow: Hardly anyone covering the Uttar Pradesh elections would dispute two things: One that it was largely a bipolar fight between the ruling BJP and principal challenger the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav.

And, secondly, there has been a perceptible uptick in the support for Akhilesh Yadav's alliance.

Political observers are also in agreement that the UP 2022 contest has been much closer than previous Assembly elections or the last two Lok Sabha polls.

But with most exit polls now predicting a clean sweep for the BJP, the moot question is: Have the SP and its allies done enough to pull off an upset in this election?

While the final outcome would only be known on Thursday, there is celebration in the BJP camp already with party headquarters in Lucknow being decked up for the big bash; not to be outdone, the Samajwadi Party workers have also started distributing sweets outside party office in Lucknow. Party sources claimed that an order has been placed for 500 Kg laddoos.

The SP is equally confident – or at least it is keeping up the pretence -- that it will cruise to victory. It has shrugged off the exit poll results as BJP sponsored, saying they do not reflect ground reality.

Yadav has instead asked party workers to maintain a strict vigil on the EVMs and at the counting centres.

If the BJP wins, it would be nothing short of a miracle as a ruling party would be getting re-elected in UP for a second term in over three decades, since 1985, to be precise.

The Congress and the BSP were never tipped to win but both are hopeful of a fair increase in their vote share, if not seats.

There are a few hours left for results to pour in but the excitement of the exit polls, which gave a decisive mandate to the BJP, is not palpable. Clearly, the leaders are apprehensive. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been in Gorakhpur for the past three days and will return to the state capital only after results are declared. His absence from the "scene of action" has dampened the spirits of party workers.

More than the exit polls, they can be heard avidly discussing the trend in the 'satta' markets. In a way, "the 'satta market' is much more reliable that the exit polls. Huge bets are being laid on a SP government and we would like to believe this," says a former office bearer

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