UP heads for hung House; Congress shocked in Punjab | Mayawati to resign as UP CM

The Samajwadi Party today seems on way to emerging as the single largest party in Uttar Pradesh where the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati has been routed.

The Congress got a shock in Punjab with the ruling SAD-BJP combine well on the way to retaining power, and early trends in Goa too show that the party might end up with fewer seats than the BJP which is leading in 11 of the 20 seats for which trends have come in till now.Meanwhile, Uttarakhand is locked in a see-saw battle between the ruling BJP and a surprisingly confident Congress, even though the BJP appears to have a very slight edge as it is leading in 29 seats against Congress in 28. The BJP might well unseat the Congress from power in Goa if this trend continues.

However, in Manipur, the Congress is set to sweep back to power for the third consecutive term.

The Samajwadi Party, headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, was surging ahead in 189 seats in the 403-member Assembly, while the ruling BSP was leading in 101 seats.

The BJP is leading in 51, while the Congress-RLD combine is ahead in 50 constituencies.

In Punjab, Akali Dal-BJP combine seems set to retain power in Punjab, a first in the history of the state, by leading in 60 of the 117-member House. Congress, which was expected to wrest power, was leading in 54 seats.

The latest trends from Uttarakhand showed that Congress was leading in 30 seats in the 70-member Assembly and BJP followed closely with 29.
The BJP is ahead in Goa with 3 wins and 9 leads against Congress's 1 win and 5 leads in the 40-member House.

In Manipur, Congress has won in five seats and leading in 14 seats in the 60-member Assembly.

The SP, which had 97 seats in the outgoing Assembly, may have to look to the Congress-RLD combine for an alliance if it stops short of a majority by around 20-30 seats.

BJP chief spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said the party would be content to sit in the opposition if that was the verdict of the people.

However, the shock for Congress came from Punjab where the ruling SAD-BJP alliance could well better its 2007 performance when it got 69 seats.

In Uttarakhand, reports place BJP leading in 29 seats, while Congress, which was hoping to make a comeback to power, was leading in 30 seats.

Goa seems set for a change of power as the BJP-MGP combine is leading currently. The BJP itself has won five seats and was leading in five others and its ally MGP was ahead in one seat.

The ruling Congress, which had won 16 seats in the last elections, has won one seat and was leading in four others. Its ally NCP was ahead in one constituency.