In what seems to be a neck to neck contest, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading on 35 seats, Samajwadi Party on 34 after the initial round of counting on 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.
As per the data of the Election Commission SP is leading on 34 seats, BJP on 35 seats, Congress on 8, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on 2 and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) on 1 seat.
After the initial round of counting Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading by 31,774 votes in Varanasi over his nearest rival Ajay Rai of Congress, whereas Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is leading in Lucknow by a margin of 17,323 votes.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is leading in Rae Bareli by a comfortable margin of 60,901 votes. Here he is being challenged by Dinesh Pratap Singh, a minister in the Yogi government and BJP candidate.
On another high profile seat Amethi Union Minister Smriti Irani is trailing by 18,576 votes over her nearest rival Kishori Lal Sharma of Congress. In Faizabad, BJP’s Lallu Singh is trailing behind his nearest rival and sitting MLA Awadhesh Prasad by a largin of 4,791 votes.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is leading by a margin of 37,427 votes in Kannauj over her nearest rival BJP nominee and sitting MP Subrat Pathak. In Mainpuri, Dimple Yadav, sitting MP and wife of SP chief, is leading by a margin of 46,556 votes over her nearest rival and BJP candidate Jayveer Singh, who is also a cabinet minister in the Yogi government.
In Sultanpur sitting MP and BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi is trailing by a margin of 8,819 votes.
