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Most swing states hail Modi as opposition goes down like ninepins

The Hindi heartland has ensured BJP need not worry about pesky coalition partners; alliance with Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh pays off; Jayalalithaa's garrison wrests Tamil Nadu from rival DMK

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, set to be the next Prime Minister of the country, with other BJP leaders at the party office in Gandhinagar on Friday

BS Reporter New Delhi
Uttar Pradesh was clearly the swing state of 2014. The others - Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh - also played a supporting role.

Though the Narendra Modi wave swept away regional parties such as Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party and the Janata Dal (United), the All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Biju Janata Dal in Odisha and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu held their own. The Congress could not open its account in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu. But the BJP has made its presence felt in Assam and Bengal.

Uttar Pradesh: 80 seats

Steered by the party strongman Amit Shah, the BJP bagged 71 seats and 42 per cent of the vote, a far cry from its 10 seats in 2009. Mayawati's Dalit vote moved to the BJP, leaving her high and dry.

The Muzaffarnagar riots cost Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal, with the Jat vote switching to the BJP. The ruling Samajwadi Party, facing a negative public mood, has been reduced to five seats, a fall from 23 in 2009.

The Congress, which did well in 2009 with 21 seats, had just Amethi and Rae Bareilly, the Gandhi family's pocket boroughs. (BIRD’S EYE VIEW :MODI’S CHARIOT RACES TO DELHI, TRAMPLING THOSE IN HIS WAY)

Bihar: 40 seats

The other crucial state the BJP was banking on delivered 22 seats. The BJP's gain has decimated former ally Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which wrapped up with two seats.

Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti Party benefited from the Modi factor by bagging six seats. Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal, which was hoping for a comeback in alliance with the Congress, won only four seats, and the alliance six.

For Lalu, the defeat of his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misha Bharti will be a personal blow.

  Maharashtra: 48 seats

The BJP has convincingly swept the state with 23 seats, 41 if seen in alliance with Shiv Sena's 18. The ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance has been wiped out with the Congress bagging two, down from 17 in 2009, and the NCP half of its previous tally of eight.

Ashok Chavan is a surprise winner from Nanded and prominent losers include Milind Deora, Priya Dutt and Praful Patel.

Fears of Raj Thackeray eating into the saffron parties' votes remained unfounded.

Andhra Pradesh: 42 seats

Essentially a test for the two new regions of Seemandhra and Telangana, the Congress has been reduced to two seats in the entire state.

Jagan Mohan Reddy's breakaway YSR Congress has made an impressive impact with nine seats and the Telugu Desam Party-BJP alliance has worked, with 16 seats for the former and three for the latter.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti had a haul of 11 seats, with chief K Chandrasekhar Rao clearly on top in the new state.

Tamil Nadu: 39 seats

J Jayalalithaa, popular as Amma or mother among the masses, reigns supreme with 37 seats in the state, leaving the BJP with only one seat.

Rival K Karunanidhi's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Congress have been wiped out.

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First Published: May 17 2014 | 12:50 AM IST

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