Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, has 403 seats in its Assembly. A winning party or alliance would need 202 seats. Since 2002, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, have been in power in UP. This year, exit polls have predicted a massive win for Bharatiya Janata Party.

5.45pm: Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has submitted his resignation to the governor. According to the ECI, BJP has won 278 seats and is leading in 33, giving the party a projected tally of 311. SP has only won 45 seats and is leading in two.

5.05pm: Akhilesh Yadav of SP spoke to the press. He offered congratulations to the public and says SP accepts the verdict in favour of BJP. Referring to Mayawati’s allegations that EVMs were tampered, he said that the government should investigate these charges. “Perhaps the public has voted for the bullet train,” said Yadav. Looking relaxed, Yadav said that he was waiting for the new cabinet to bring in more progress, improve the conditions of farmers and generally perform better than his government. “I want to see how the demonetisation money reaches the poor,” he said, referring to promises made by BJP candidates during their campaign in UP. He reiterated that SP has worked hard for the people of UP and that he was waiting to see how BJP would improve upon this legacy. Yadav defended the alliance with Congress, saying that it had performed well.

4.15pm: Muzaffarnagar saw more women candidates than anywhere else in UP. Ultimately however, the men won. BJP’s Kapil Dev Agarwal eventually won, with 97,838 votes. Second position went to SP’s Gaurav Swarup Bansal, who got 87, 134 votes.

3.35pm: Amit Shah addresses the press in Delhi. He said BJP is ready to form governments in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. “Today everyone has to accept that after independence, Narendra Modi is the most popular leader since Independence,” Shah said. He stressed that the win in UP is historic and that the results show that the country’s poor and backward communities have put their faith in Modi because of his leadership. When asked about Mayawati’s allegations, he said that he understood her disappointment but didn’t want to comment upon her statement.

BJP’s Garima Singh is leading by a little less than 10,000 votes in Amethi, which is known as a Congress stronghold.

BSP’s Mukhtar Ansari is leading in Mau. Failing to form an alliance between Qaumi Ekta Dal and SP, Mukhtar formed an alliance with BSP. Trailing behind him is Altaf Ansari of the SP. Between the two Ansaris, they have 54 charges framed against them. However, Mukhtar stands out with five charges of murder and five of attempted murder against him.

2.52pm: Responding to Mayawati’s demand for re-election and tampered EVMs, BJP’s Smriti Irani said, “Angoor khatte hain (it’s a case of sour grapes)”.

2.45pm: Times Now says BJP is leading in 315 seats. Meanwhile, among the declared winners is BJP’s Yogesh Dhama, from Baghpat in UP. Dhama has several criminal cases filed against him, including one for attempted murder and two for causing hurt to a public servant deterring him from his duty.

BJP spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh has been declared the winner from Allahabad (west).

2:04 pm:

13.40pm: Mayawati of BSP holds a press conference in Lucknow. She alleges that the voting machines have “given” other parties’ votes to BJP and that the voting machines were “managed”. “The BJP that hasn’t given one single ticket to a Muslim, in spite of that, in Muslim mohallas, the vote has gone to BJP. Can you swallow this?” she says. She claims only the BJP symbol was available on some machines. Mayawati also claimed that without tampering, it was impossible for BJP to have got the results that have been projected. She added that similar accusations have been levelled against BJP in Maharashtra. The BSP leader is demanding a probe into the EVMs.

12.35pm: Yogi Adityanath says that the BJP’s leads in UP are proof that the public doesn’t support “appeasement politics”. India Today reported him saying, “Ram Mandir is definitely on our agenda.” He’s also said he is not a contender for the chief ministerial position.

12.24pm: Shivpal Yadav of SP says the defeat in UP is not that of “samajwadis” (socialists; in this case: SP workers), but of “ghamand” (arrogance).

12:01: Three hours after counting, these are the official numbers from the Election Commission of India.

11.21am: A little after two and a half hours after counting, here’s what the different channels are predicting UP.

11.09: On the basis of existing leads, BJP seems set to score a bigger majority in UP than any other party has managed in the past 20 years.

10:26 am: Fb Live from BJP headquarters in Lucknow

10:00: FB live from Samajwadi Party office in Lucknow. Amit Bhardwaj talks to supporters who feel the numbers might improve once the rural votes coming in.

9.53am: Times Now reports that SP has “conceded” defeat in UP.

9.44am: Times Now calls UP: BJP is leading in 203 seats. If BJP maintains its leads in these seats, then it will indeed be the “mega saffron surge” that the channel has been anticipating.

9.34am: CNN-News 18‘s Bhupendra Chaubey predicts a clean sweep for BJP in UP and 250+ for the party. Swapan Dasgupta accuses the Indian media of being disconnected and refusing to acknowledge the Modi wave. “It’s nothing to do with political bias,” said Dasgupta of his attack upon the media. Abhishek Manu Singhvi of Congress tells Rajdeep Sardesai on India Today that if these leads continue, then it’s a “remarkable victory” for BJP.

9.14am: Early leads are in for 243 out of 403 seats. CNN-News 18 has BJP and allies at 175, SP-Congress at 41 and BSP at 29.

8.59am: Approximately an hour into counting, early leads are coming in for 127 out of 403 seats. Keep in mind that approximately 36 per cent of the leads being reported by the news channels are based on postal votes. Here’s what the exit polls have prophesied for UP:

7.39am: Good morning, news junkies. Counting begins at 8am and leads will be come in soon after. While we wait, here’s what the mood was like at BJP, SP and BSP offices yesterday.

Our reporter Amit Bhardwaj met BJP’s UP spokesperson, Rakesh Tripathi. Tripathi told us BJP is going to win 300 of the 403 seats.