As part of its election strategy, BJP contested under a collective leadership and capitalised mostly on the political clout and 'brand' of its leader Narendra Modi.

In January 2016, the Election Commission of India published updated electoral rolls in all 403 assembly segments.

[9][10] As per the special summary revision of electoral rolls, there are a total of 14.05 crore voters in Uttar Pradesh as of January 2015.

Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran had published an exit poll promoting BJP, after first phase of the election.

[36] The BBC wrote that the BJP "appears to have successfully forged a coalition of upper, middle-ranking and lower castes to be able to manipulate the social arithmetic of Indian elections".

It also noted that the party successfully avoided the image of "doling out reckless patronage to a caste or group", which the BBC considered responsible for the SP's defeat.

Bhanu Joshi of Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research said, "He [Modi] has managed to go beyond the caste arithmetic.

"[37] BSP Leader and former Chief Minister Mayavati claimed that the BJP tampered with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) thereby rigging the election outcome.