BJP Reaches A New High In UP, Likely To Touch 50 Per Cent Vote Share 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which appears to be on the road to reach absolute majority on its own, has crossed the 45 per cent vote share mark in Uttar Pradesh, the politically most crucial state in the country. The Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, referred to as the gathbandhan, has managed to bag only 38 per cent.

The last time a party crossed the 45 per cent mark was in 1984, when the Congress won over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha election in a sympathy wave following the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi.

In 1977, Bharatiya Lok Dal of Chaudhary Charan Singh also breached this mark, getting over 65 per cent of the vote in an election dominated by anti-Indira Gandhi sentiment due to the excesses committed during the Emergency.

In 1957, Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru had also breached the 45 per cent mark.

All these elections were held in undivided Uttar Pradesh. Uttrakhand was carved out of the state by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2000.

Therefore, no incumbent government under normal conditions and in the current arrangement has crossed the 45 per cent vote share mark in UP.