Young voters show their identity cards and inked fingers after casting their votes for the first time, in Lucknow.
Lucknow:
After voting in Lucknow today, BJP president Rajnath Singh said his party "will get a clear majority and more than 300 seats."
Whether or not the BJP, seen as a forerunner in these elections, will get close to the 272 seats it needs to form the next government at the Centre, will depend heavily on how it fares in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, more than any other state. (Election 2014: Full Coverage)
Capital Lucknow, where Rajnath Singh is contesting, was one of only 10 seats that the BJP had won in 2009. This time Mr Singh and other BJP candidates have their hopes pinned on what they call the "Modi wave" with an eye on "50 plus seats" in the words of Amit Shah, right-hand man of the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Mr Shah has handled the party's UP campaign and ticket distribution, carefully balancing factors like caste and community.
Polling was held in 14 UP constituencies today, in the central and Bundelkhand regions of the state. Of these, the Congress, in its impressive UP haul of 22 seats, had won six in 2009, the Samajwadi Party had won four, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party three and the BJP only the Lucknow seat, which it hasn't lost in almost 25 years.
The BJP will need to reverse that statistic for its UP plan to work and will seek to interpret the 57% voter turnout in the state today as an indication that more people have come out to vote for a change. In the last general election, UP had a 47.5% voter turnout. The first three phases this year saw over 60% voting.
In today's phase the BJP is also banking on a consolidation of the Brahmin, Rajput and Baniya votes, and the support of and the non-Yadav OBCs, like the Lodh community to which party leader Uma Bharti belongs. Ms Bharti is contesting from Jhansi.
47 UP constituencies have voted till today. Two more phases will be held - 15 constituencies will vote on May 7 and, in the largest phase, 18, including Varanasi, from where Mr Modi is contesting, will vote on May 12. (Elections 2014: Schedule)
Whether or not the BJP, seen as a forerunner in these elections, will get close to the 272 seats it needs to form the next government at the Centre, will depend heavily on how it fares in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, more than any other state. (Election 2014: Full Coverage)
Capital Lucknow, where Rajnath Singh is contesting, was one of only 10 seats that the BJP had won in 2009. This time Mr Singh and other BJP candidates have their hopes pinned on what they call the "Modi wave" with an eye on "50 plus seats" in the words of Amit Shah, right-hand man of the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Mr Shah has handled the party's UP campaign and ticket distribution, carefully balancing factors like caste and community.
Polling was held in 14 UP constituencies today, in the central and Bundelkhand regions of the state. Of these, the Congress, in its impressive UP haul of 22 seats, had won six in 2009, the Samajwadi Party had won four, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party three and the BJP only the Lucknow seat, which it hasn't lost in almost 25 years.
The BJP will need to reverse that statistic for its UP plan to work and will seek to interpret the 57% voter turnout in the state today as an indication that more people have come out to vote for a change. In the last general election, UP had a 47.5% voter turnout. The first three phases this year saw over 60% voting.
In today's phase the BJP is also banking on a consolidation of the Brahmin, Rajput and Baniya votes, and the support of and the non-Yadav OBCs, like the Lodh community to which party leader Uma Bharti belongs. Ms Bharti is contesting from Jhansi.
47 UP constituencies have voted till today. Two more phases will be held - 15 constituencies will vote on May 7 and, in the largest phase, 18, including Varanasi, from where Mr Modi is contesting, will vote on May 12. (Elections 2014: Schedule)
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