Modi\`s BJP set to win India\`s biggest state election
India's election authority started counting votes on Thursday in five states' elections that are a crucial test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before national elections in 2024.
Opinion polls have predicted a comfortable majority for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh_ despite the government's much-criticised handling of COVID-19_ high unemployment_ and anger over farm reforms that Modi cancelled last year after protests.
The BJP has long predicted it would retain the northern state because of policies such as free staples for the poor during the pandemic_ a crackdown on crime_ and its popularity among the Hindu majority reinforced by the construction of a temple on the site of a razed mosque.
In elections in four smaller states over the past month_ the Aam Aadmi Party that governs the national capital territory of Delhi is projected to win in Punjab_ while the races are tight in BJP-ruled Manipur_ Goa and Uttarakhand.
Uttar Pradesh is home to about a fifth of India's 1.35 billion people and sends the most legislators to the parliament of any state.
It has long been said that without winning Uttar Pradesh and the neighbouring state of Bihar_ no party or coalition has much hope of securing a majority in parliament. The BJP has been in power in both.
For decades_ Uttar Pradesh was a stronghold of the main opposition Congress party but it has been unable to stem a slide in its popularity over recent years.
If Modi's party holds Uttar Pradesh as expected_ opposition hopes of a united front to challenge him in the next general election will be dented.
A win in Uttar Pradesh would also be a seal of approval for Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath_ who was surprisingly chosen as chief minister for Uttar Pradesh five years ago and is seen as a future prime ministerial candidate for the BJP.
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