JAIPUR: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party remained in control of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, initial results showed on Thursday, in vote that is seen a pulse check on support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the national elections in 2024.
More than 180 million votes were cast in five Indian states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa — all of which went to the polls over the past month.
Uttar Pradesh is home to over 220 million people, about a fifth of India’s population. Winning the state is considered crucial for securing a majority in parliament, as it sends the most legislators of any state to the country’s supreme legislative body.
Tight races in Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand have been in favor of the BJP, while the Aam Aadmi Party that also governs the national capital territory of Delhi is headed for a big victory in Punjab.
“But for Punjab, the BJP has achieved astounding victory in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. “These victories would rewrite India’s political road map,” BJP spokesperson Sudesh Verma said in a statement.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, which is trailing in all five states, took to Twitter to say he accepted the result of the popular vote.
“Humbly accept the people’s verdict,” he said. “Best wishes to those who have won the mandate.”
The Hindu nationalist BJP has been in power in Uttar Pradesh since 2017, when it won 312 seats of the 384 it contested.
The 2022 win, coming despite criticism over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and mass antigovernment protests by farmers last year, would make incumbent Yogi Adityanath, a controversial Hindu monk, the first Uttar Pradesh chief minister to complete a full term and return to office.
It was not certain if farmers, an influential voting bloc, would support the ruling party after it pushed laws to privatize the agriculture sector triggered a yearlong protest that ended with the government revoking the plan in November.
But it still pinned hopes on a slew of development schemes carried out by local governments.
Delhi-based writer and analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay told Arab News the win was an “endorsement of the BJP’s welfare politics that it has introduced by building toilets, distributing rations and all among the poorer sections of the society.”
He added that it would also consolidate majoritarian politics that Modi’s party has been introducing in the Hindu dominated country since its ascent to power in 2014: “The results show the normalization of the BJP’s majoritarian narrative that it has introduced in India’s polity in the last eight years.”
Modi’s ruling party set for landslide win in crucial Indian state polls
https://arab.news/n3u6j
Modi’s ruling party set for landslide win in crucial Indian state polls
- Winning Uttar Pradesh is seen as necessary for securing a majority in India's parliament
- Leader of India's main opposition Congress party says accepts the result of the popular vote
Philippines signs free trade pact with UAE
- UAE deal is Philippines’ fourth free trade pact, after South Korea, Japan, and EFTA
- Business body warns of uneven gains if domestic safeguard mechanisms insufficient
MANILLA: The Philippines signed on Tuesday a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the UAE, its first such deal with a Middle Eastern nation.
The Philippines and the UAE first agreed to explore a free trade pact in February 2022 and formalized the process with terms of reference in late 2023. Negotiations started in May 2024 and were finalized in 2025.
The CEPA signing was witnessed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who led the Philippine delegation to Abu Dhabi.
“The CEPA is the Philippines’ first free trade pact with a Middle Eastern country, marking a milestone in expanding the nation’s global trade footprint,” Marcos’s office said.
“The agreement aims to reduce tariffs, enhance market access for goods and services, increase investment flows, and create new opportunities for Filipino professionals and service providers in the UAE.”
The UAE is home to some 700,000 Filipinos, the second-largest Filipino diaspora after Saudi Arabia.
With bilateral trade worth about $1.8 billion, it is also a key trading partner of the Philippines in the Middle East, and accounted for almost 39 percent of Philippine exports to the region in 2024.
The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry earlier estimated it would lead to at least 90 percent liberalization in tariffs and give the Philippines wider access to the GCC region.
“Preliminary studies indicate the CEPA could boost Philippine exports to the UAE by 9.13 percent, generate consumer savings, and strengthen overall trade linkages with the Gulf region,” Marcos’s office said.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Makati expects the pact to bring stronger trade flows, capital and technology for renewable energy, infrastructure, food, and water security projects as long as domestic policy supports it.
“CEPA can serve as a trade accelerator and investment catalyst for the Philippines,” Nunnatus Cortez, the chamber’s chairman, told Arab News.
The pact could result in “expanding exports, attracting capital, diversifying economic partners, upgrading industries, and supporting long-term growth — provided the country actively supports exporters and converts provisions into concrete commercial outcomes,” said Cortez.
“The main downside risk of CEPA lies in domestic readiness. Without strong industrial policy, MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) support, safeguard mechanisms, and export development, CEPA could lead to import dominance, uneven gains, fiscal pressure, and limited structural transformation.”
The deal with the UAE is the Philippines’ fourth bilateral free trade pact, following agreements with South Korea, Japan, and the European Free Trade Association, which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
