Voting in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh begins, challenge for BJP to hold on to power

In the first of seven phases being held on Thursday, 58 of total 403 seats from the western Uttar Pradesh went to polls with 623 candidates including 73 women being thrown into the battle.

The BJP, which swept the state elections five years ago leading firebrand Hindutva leader Yogi Adityanath to become the Chief Minister, won 53 of the 58 seats where elections are underway.

To breach BJP's fort in western Uttar Pradesh, SP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have forged an alliance, which will be put to test in the first phase.

There is a face to face contest between BJP and SP-RLD alliance on around three dozen seats, whereas there is a triangular fight on nearly two dozen seats where all BJP, SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have fielded strong candidates.

From the trends of the election campaign coming out so far and the challenge being posed by the SP-RLD alliance, it is being speculated that repeating the results of 2017 assembly polls will not be an easy task for the BJP.

To counter the challenge posed by the alliance, BJP has denied tickets to its 19 sitting MLAs and have fielded fresh faces.

Besides, BJP has also given tickets to three leaders, who quit former Chief Minister Mayawati's BSP to join the saffron brigade.

To corner BJP, SP-RLD alliance has carefully worked on seat sharing equations and selection of the candidates.

While SP is contesting on 28 seats, 29 have gone in the share of RLD.

The Anupshahr seat has been given to another alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Sharad Pawar.

The alliance has fielded new faces on 43 seats out of 58.

In the morning, Modi urged all eligible electorates to cast their votes.

He tweeted, "Today is the first phase of voting in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. I request all the voters to participate enthusiastically in this holy festival of democracy by following the rules of Covid. Remember - Vote first, then refreshments!"

As per the opinion polls conducted by various agencies, the BJP is predicted to form the government once again but with a major decline in its tally of seats while the SP, led by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, may miss the power again despite improving its last performance.

Not just Uttar Pradesh, Modi, the supreme face of the BJP, in an interview on Wednesday claimed his party will win in all five states going to polls between Feb 10 and Mar 7.

"BJP is always involved in serving people. When in power, we work with the mantra of 'Sabka saath, Sabka vikas'. I can see a wave for BJP in all states. We'll win with an overwhelming majority and people in 5 states will give us an opportunity to serve them," the Prime Minister told ANI.

Yadav on Thursday morning posted on Twitter, "New Slogan of New UP: Let development be an ideology!"

BSP and Congress, who ran the state for years earlier, are fighting for their relevance in the elections, the results for which will be declared on Mar 10.

The elections are also being held following the year-long farmers' protest against the agricultural reforms, which were brought by the Modi government.

Facing major protests from farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the Prime Minister rolled back the three contentious farm laws late last year.