India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was set to win regional elections on Thursday in four states, including populous Uttar Pradesh, in what is being seen as an endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's enduring popularity.
A win in Uttar Pradesh, which sends a large number of members to parliament, comes as a boost for Modi and the Hindu nationalist BJP, as a general election scheduled for 2024 approaches.
The BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh comes despite rising unemployment and inflation and even though voters decided to re-elect the saffron-clad Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath as chief minister for a second term.
Western Uttar Pradesh was the location of prolonged protests by farmers last year against a set of laws which the Modi government finally withdrew.
Analysts say the government's handing out of rations during the Covid-19 pandemic, its crackdown on crime and the BJP's polarizing of votes on religious lines all helped the Yogi government overcome anti-incumbency.
Both Yogi and Modi are popular figures among a large segment of Hindu voters, and measures such as building a temple on a the site of a razed mosque, banning the sale of meat at a Hindu pilgrimage centre and a law against carrying out religious conversion have proved popular in Uttar Pradesh. Almost 80% of Indians identify as Hindus.
The BJP was also set to return to power in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, according to data provided by the Election Commission of India. The party was in government in all the states except Punjab while going to the hustings.
"The results are an approval of pro-poor, pro-active governance," Modi said while addressing cheering party workers in national capital Delhi.
In Punjab, the newbie Aam Aadmi Party, which governs Delhi, won a more than two-thirds majority with voters appearing to favour a change from the traditional parties.
AAP's chief ministerial candidate, popular stand-up comedian Bhagwant Singh Mann, played a key role in the party's victory. AAP leaders see the win as an important step towards the party becoming a national presence.
