Maintaining its grip on Uttar Pradesh, the BJP along with its ally Apna Dal has bagged three seats and is leading in 59 others, while the rival SP-BSP alliance has won one seat and is leading in just 16 out of 80 seats.
Congress had little to show and was in contention only in Rae Bareli where UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is leading by 1.66 lakh votes. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is trailing by nearly 40,000 votes against BJP's Smriti Irani, according to Election Commission website.
According to the trends available till 7 pm, the BJP won Bahraich and Gorakhpur seats, while Apna Dal wrested Roberstganj. The BSP won Nagina Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP drew first blood when Akshyawar Lal defeated his nearest SP-BSP-RLD alliance nominee Shabbir Balmiki in Bahraich by over 1.28 lakh votes.
Sitting MP Savitri Bai Phule, who had switched sides to the Congress from BJP, got 34,383 votes and stood third. She also lost her security deposit.
Gorakhpur seat was wrested by BJP's Ravi Kishan, defeating SP's Rambhual Nishad by a margin of 3,01,664 votes. In the by-election, the seat was won by the SP-BSP combine.
Robertsganj seat went to Pakauri Lal Kol of Apna Dal (Soneylal) who defeated his closest rival Bhai Lal of Samajwadi Party by 54,336 votes.
The BSP opened its account by winning Nagina where its candidate Girish Chandra defeated Yashwant Singh of BJP by a margin of 1,66,832 votes.
The latest trends showed Apna Dal (S) was leading on one seat, BSP on 10 seats, SP on five seats, RLD on one seat and Congress on one seat.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) was trailing at all the three seats it contested.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was ahead in Rae Bareli by a big margin of 1.66 lakh votes, giving her party a saving grace.
Her son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi was trailing in Amethi behind Union minister Smriti Irani by over 24,000 votes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi forged ahead of his nearest SP rival by a virtually invincible margin of 4.75 lakh votes in Varanasi as counting was on.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Santosh Gangwar are leading in their respective seats of Lucknow and Bareily. But another Union minister Manoj Sinha was trailing in Ghazipur, where mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's brother Afzal Ansari of BSP is leading by over 69,000 votes.
In Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana where the Opposition had unseated the BJP in by-polls, the saffron party appeared to be taking a sweet revenge by leading at all the three places.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attributed the impressive show by his party to the "alert voters" who he said rejected the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) of opposition parties.
"It is high time for the opposition to introspect and shun politics of negativity," he told PTI, giving full credit to Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for the "historic victory".
RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son, Jayant Chowdhury, were trailing from Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat, respectively.
In Mathura, sitting BJP MP Hema Malini was leading by two lakh votes against RLD candidate Kunwar Narendra Singh.
It was mixed fortune for the Yadav clan, with two senior leaders Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav maintaining their leads, even as Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav, his cousins Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav trailing respectively from Kannauj, Badaun and Firozabad seats.
Meanwhile, SP leader Azam Khan was leading in Rampur by over 1.29 lakh votes over BJP candidate Jaya Prada, who switched sides from the SP to join the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Kunwar Danish Ali, who joined the BSP after leaving the JD(S), is leading by over 1.01 lakh votes in Amroha.
State BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey is also leading by more than 11,000 votes in Chandauli.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
