Modi wave in UP, U'Khand; Congress on strong turf in Punjab

New Delhi: Holding on to the Modi wave of 2014, the BJP today seems to be coming back to power after a gap of 14 years in the crucial Hindi heartland of UP with strong show in the hill state of Uttarakhand while the Congress is marching ahead in Punjab and Goa as early trends of five Assembly polls indicate. According to the initial leads available for 328 seats, the BJP was ahead in 231 while the SP and Congress combine was behind with 70 seats.

The BSP of Ms Mayawati was leading in 29 constituencies. On the other hand, Punjab was heading to the Congress where the party has established early leads in 61 out of 108 seats from where the trends were available. The Aam Aadmi Party, a new entrant in the Punjab politics, was also making its presence felt in 21 seats where its candidates were ahead of opponents.

In the hill state of Uttarakhand, the BJP was ahead in 52 out of 64 seats from where the trends trickled in. In Goa, the Congress and the BJP were tightly placed with leads in 8 and 7 seats respectively. The Congress was also ahead in Manipur, where the party candidates were leading in 12 out of 23 constituencies from where the leads came in. (UNI)