Assembly polls results: UP,Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and GoaCounting of votes to be taken up tomorrow

Monday, March 5, 2012: Counting of votes in the assembly elections in the five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, considered “mini general elections”, will be taken up tomorrow.
The counting will begin at 8am and the first results are expected in an hour or two and all the results by evening.
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.
While the Congress facing one controversy after another is looking forward to salvage its image, the opposition combine treats it as an occasion to pitch for a larger claim in 2014.
Looking for some buffer amid pulls and pressures of a troubling ally Mamata Banerjee, Congress faces an uphill task in reviving its fortunes in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP’s task is also daunting as it has to return to power in Uttarakhand, where corruption allegations against it appear to have tilted the balance in favour of Congress. NDA also has a tough task in retaining Punjab.
Rahul Gandhi had led the campaign in the Mayawati-ruled Uttar Pradesh from the front where Congress is contesting 357 seats in alliance with Ajit Singh’s RLD in the 403-member assembly.
The party had won only 22 seats in the 2007 assembly elections in the state but made a spectacular show in last Lok Sabha elections where it won 22 Parliamentary seats coming as a shock to Samajwadi Party, BSP and BJP.