Elated over the BJP’s 4/5 score, Modi, addressing party workers in New Delhi, said he hoped “political pundits, who did not think much of the party’s 2019 (Lok Sabha) win saying it had already been decided by the 2017 UP results, will now have the courage to say that the 2022 (UP) results have decided the 2024 (Lok Sabha) results.”

With the BJP set to form governments again in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, Modi said: “A hill state adjacent to the border, a coastal state, a state with special blessings of Mother Ganga and a state on the northeastern border, the BJP has received blessings from all four directions.”

Many people had said that the fate of the 2019 general election was decided when the 2017 UP election result was declared,” PM Modi said, addressing the BJP workers at the party headquarters in New Delhi this  evening.

“All I can say is that the same thought applies now too… the 2024 general election result can be glimpsed in the result of the 2022 UP election,” he added.

The BJP has set a record of sorts being the first party in nearly 40 years to get a second straight term. It was a first also in hill state Uttarakhand, which, since inception, has never re-elected a ruling government.

It was the party’s chief strategist Amit Shah, who had drummed in the need for a victory in Uttar Pradesh months ago, saying “A win in UP will influence the 2024 elections”. The BJP has done more than just win — it has also increased its vote share from the 39.7 per cent of 2017 to 45 per cent.

The party’s performance will also give it a boost in the coming Rajya Sabha polls on March 31 and thereby, the Presidential elections due later this year.