The alliance of Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav has spectacularly failed to stop the march of the BJP through Uttar Pradesh, the state that sends the highest number of lawmakers to parliament. The BJP is leading in 62 of the state's 80 seats - 11 short of the 73 seats it won along with ally Apna Dal in 2014. The alliance is ahead in 17 seats and the Congress in one - Sonia Gandhi's Raebareli. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is trailing the BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi, the Gandhi family bastion from where no Gandhi has ever lost.
