Cong loses Goa, close call in Uttarakhand SP sweeps UP; SAD-BJP back to power in Punjab

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: Mulayam Singh Yadav�s Samajwadi Party today swept to power jolting Congress party and the BJP in UP Assembly polls, the results of which are a setback to Rahul Gandhi, who acknowledged the "defeat". In a surprisingly comfortable victory that created history, the Akali-BJP combine retained power in Punjab, Congress lost Goa to BJP but retained Manipur while it was a close call in Uttarakhand where Congress emerged as the single largest party with 32 seats, one seat ahead of ruling BJP�s 31 in the 70-member House. SP dethroned BSP leader Mayawati by getting an absolute majority by comfortably crossing the required 202-mark in the 403-member House. The party bagged 224 seats, the third time a party won majority on its own in the State in two decades.