'Development has triumphed': PM Modi on UP civic polls

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heads for a massive win in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that "development has triumphed once again in the country."

The Prime Minister took to Twitter to congratulate the state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and thank the people of the state.

"Development has triumphed once again in the country. Thank people of the state for this grand victory. Many congratulations to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and all party workers. This win motivates us to work even harder for people's betterment," Prime Minister Modi wrote.

As per the latest counting updates, the BJP is leading in 14 of the 16 mayoral seats in the state. In the remaining two places, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is leading.

The Congress got biggest electoral jolt after the BJP won the Amethi Nagar Panchayat by over a 1,000 votes.

Amethi is Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency, and has long been a bastion of the Gandhi family.

The BJP's Chandrama Devi won the Amethi Nagar Panchayat by 1035 votes.

The BJP candidates have won Agra, Ghaziabad and Kanpur mayoral seats. Kanpur BJP's Pramila Pandey has become second woman mayor. Vinod Agarwal of the BJP has won the mayor seat of Moradabad.

The BJP leads in 57 wards of the 98 wards getting counted in Lucknow.

Results come as a setback to the Samajwadi Party as the BSP has dented their vote base in urban areas.

The BJP has also won the prestigious Ayodhya-Faizabad seat. The BJP candidate defeated Samajwadi Party's Bindu by around 4600 votes. Ayodhya had been elevated to Nagar Nigam along with Mathura by the ruling BJP in the state.

However, some surprising results have also shaken the has lost all the six seats of chairmen of Nagar Panchayats in the home turf of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya's bastion.

Independent Rajendra Kumar Singh won the Sirathu Nagar Pacnhayat seat while SP's Urmila Devi emerged victorious in Karari Nagar. In Majhanpur, BSP's Mehtab Alam won. At Chail, Sarai Akil and Ajuha, independent candidate Shivmani Kesarwani, Congress's Rohit Aazad and Independent Anil Kumar bagged the top posts, respectively.

Adityanath's home town Gorakhpur too had a bad news for the BJP as its corporator candidate has lost in the ward where Adityanath had voted.

In Mathura, the BJP candidate Meera Agarwal won from ward number 56 through lottery system as she and the Congress candidate 874 votes each.

Counting of votes of all 652 Urban Local Bodies is being held at 334 centers in Uttar Pradesh and full results are expected by evening. Polling was held in three phases on November 22, 26 and 29.