The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given front-page advertisements in the Purvanchal edition of some newspapers on Monday (March 7), the polling day in the region.
NDTV India Editor and anchor Sanket Upadhyay demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) take action against the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP’s offence? It has given front-page advertisements in the Purvanchal edition of some newspapers.
What shocked people was that the NDTV editor was unaware that the ECI rules allow the political parties to print advertisements in newspapers on polling day.
Upadhyay took a picture of the front page advertisement of Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran, the most read newspaper in the Hindi belt, and posted it on Twitter, writing, “The front page of a leading daily in UP. Where is the Election Commission? Samachar me some prachar.”
He posted the tweet in the afternoon on Monday (March 7), the seventh and last phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh. Nine districts of Uttar Pradesh in Purvanchal voted for 54 assembly constituencies in the last voting phase.
After the voting ended at 6 pm, major television channels broadcasted the exit polls. All the exit polls agreed that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would retain the state with a thumping majority. The India Today-Axis poll predicted a bumper majority of 326 seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led alliance in the state.
All the exit polls agreed on another issue in Uttar Pradesh: Congress to remain in single digits. The party had won seven seats in the last assembly elections in 2017 when it contested in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. The lowest figure predicted for the BJP in UP is 223, well above the magic figure of 202.
In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP won 312 seats in the 403- member House. With allies Apna Dal (S) winning 9 seats and SBSP winning 4 seats, the tally of the BJP led alliance had touched 325 seats in 2017.
The Congress party, which had contested the 2017 polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party, had won seven seats. The exit polls are predicting Congress will remain in the single digits even in this election.
