CM Yogi Adityanath targets 80% vote share for NDA, predicts big win in UP polls

Ahead of the high-stakes Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed confidence that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would secure a decisive mandate in the state, predicting that the ruling coalition would win 80 per cent of the votes as well as seats.

Speaking to Aaj Tak's Senior Managing Editor Sweta Singh at AajTak Panchayat, Adityanath reiterated his much-discussed 80-20 formula, saying that the BJP and its alliance partners would secure 80 per cent of the votes, while the remaining 20 per cent would go to the Opposition.

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The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister first invoked the 80-20 formula ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. At the time, he had said that 80 per cent of the electorate, comprising people who believed in nationalism, good governance and development, would vote for the BJP. The remaining 20 per cent, he had suggested, would favour the Opposition.

Asked to predict the BJP-led alliance's performance in the upcoming polls, Adityanath maintained that the coalition would secure at least 80 per cent of the votes. When specifically asked whether the BJP would cross the 350-seat mark, he said the ruling alliance would win at least 80 per cent of the Assembly seats. However, he refrained from giving a specific seat tally.

"I have said multiple times that we are fighting an 80-20 battle. The BJP and its alliance partners will get 80 per cent of the votes, and the rest will go to the Opposition. The same equation will be reflected in the number of seats as well," Adityanath said.

What does Yogi's 80-20 formula mean?

Uttar Pradesh has 403 Assembly seats. If Adityanath's prediction of winning 80 per cent of the seats holds, the BJP-led NDA would secure approximately 322 seats, leaving the remaining 81 seats for the Opposition.

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The prediction is significant given the NDA's electoral performance in the previous two Assembly elections. In 2017, the alliance won 325 seats, with the BJP alone accounting for 312 seats. However, its tally declined considerably in the 2022 Assembly elections, when the NDA secured 273 seats, including 255 won by the BJP.

The latest prediction, therefore, suggests that Adityanath expects the ruling alliance to regain much of the ground it lost in 2022 and secure another comfortable majority in the state.