Election Results Live: Samajwadi party nears majority in UP

Bahujan Samaj Party’s elephant has given way to Samajwadi party’s cycle in Uttar Pradesh, emerging trends in Assembly elections 2012 counting indicate. The Samajwadi Party has emerged as the single largest party but appears set to fall short of majority in the politically-crucial state. The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party is a distant second while the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a neck-to-neck race for the third spot.

Riding on the Cycle, the Mulayam Singh-led party is leading in 196 out of the total 403 seats, as per the latest trends available at 11.45 am. However, the big question now is - will the Congress go back on its grand standing and extend support to the SP to form the government in UP.

Mayawati, despite registering impressive performance in spearheading economic growth in UP, is on her way out. The BSP is ahead in 97 seats. As per reports, Mayawati will head towards the Raj Bhavan at 3.30 pm to tender her resignation.

The Congress, for which the elections have been a high-profile affair after Rahul Gandhi himself steered the poll campaign, is leading in 51 seats - a marked improvement from the 22 seats it has in the outgoing Assembly.

The BJP has also done well in the state with it being ahead in 48 seats. Others are ahead in only 11 seats.

Among the prominent SP candidates who are leading include Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, Brahmashankar Tripathi, Mohammad Azam Khan, Abhay Singh and Mata Prasad, while Veer Singh and Ambika Choudhary are trailing

From the BJP who are on course to victory include Kalraj Mishra and Mahesh Kumar Sharma, while Avadhesh Kumar, Nawab Singh Nagar, Daddan Mishra, Devendra Singh and Ramapati Shastri are trailing.

UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi is also leading from Lucknow.

Besides UP counting of votes is underway in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.

The results will decide the fate of candidates in a total of 690 assembly seats -- 403 in UP, 117 seats in Punjab, 70 in Uttarakhand, 60 in Manipur and 40 in Goa.

The elections, which have taken place in the middle of the last Lok Sabha election in 2009 and the next in 2014, are being considered some sort of "semi final" for the UPA and NDA.