The BJP has also won the most municipal council seats, 70 out of 198. Of 438 Nagar panchayats, the BJP has won 100, with Independents winning more at 182. Other parties trailed behind.

The BSP is a far away second in the UP mayoral elections, winning two seats, while the Samajwadi Party is next to the BJP in the municipal councils and nagar panchayats.

Yogi Adityanath said today's victory sets the BJP on the path to "achieve the goal of 100 per cent success in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections."

He took a swipe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for the drubbing his party has got in his parliamentary constituency, Amethi. "People who were saying big things about Gujarat, they haven't been able to open their account and have been wiped out in Amethi too," the Chief Minister said.

The BJP is celebrating not only in UP, but also in Gujarat, where assembly elections will be held starting next week. Party leaders said they will use the UP result to attack Rahul Gandhi and the Congress in the Gujarat campaign.

State capital Lucknow got its first woman mayor in the BJP's Sanyukta Bhatia, who said this morning, "I don't consider anyone my competitor. I will be number one, no matter who is second or third."

In 2012, the BJP had won 10 of 12 municipal corporations, one each were won by Independents backed by the SP and BSP. There are four new municipalities this time, Ayodhya, Saharanpur, Firozabad and Mathura - all have been won by the BJP.

Yogi Adityanath, 45, held an unprecedented 26 rallies for the civic polls and asked voters to support the BJP just the way they did in the 2014 national election and this year's assembly election. The party swept both, winning 73 of the state's 80 parliament seats three years ago and over 300 of 400 seats in the assembly elections.

The Chief Minister had to both thank his party and prove his worth with a big win. After the BJP's humongous win in March, party leaders had unexpectedly picked the saffron-robed priest-politician over several front-runners for the top post.