Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has triumphed in the five state assembly elections, by returning to power in four states, including crucial and largest Indian state Uttar Pradesh. This has reflected BJP’s domination of Indian politics and the major contender the Congress party floundered.
The BJP won four of the five states involved, including Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state with more than 22 crore residents. Observers felt that this sweep would put the BJP in a strong position ahead of national elections in 2024. The implications are very clear: dampening of the spirit of the opposition parties and jubilation for the BJP.
In a victory speech, Prime Minister Modi called the results a “guarantee of India’s bright future”, adding that these state polls would “decide the outcome of the 2024 elections”.
By contrast, Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party, India’s most prominent opposition party, lost one of its few remaining power bases in Punjab to the upstart Aam Aadmi party, which was founded in Delhi 10 years ago on an anti-corruption platform. The party won just two seats in Uttar Pradesh, Congress’s historic stronghold.
People have buried the politics of caste and religion by ensuring a massive victory for the BJP and its allies in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Addressing BJP workers at the party’s state headquarters here as the poll results and trends showed a clear BJP majority, he said the “misleading” campaign run by the Opposition over the past 2-3 days have been set aside by the people who reposed faith in the good governance of the BJP.
The results that have come in the middle of the PM’s second-term in office reflect a reaffirmation of faith in his popularity and cement the BJP’s pole position with a resounding close to two-thirds majority in UP, with 41.4 per cent vote share; return to power in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly with 47 seats and 44.3 per cent vote share, though the incumbent CM Pushkar Singh Dhami lost his own seat; a clear majority of 32 seats in the 60-member Manipur Assembly and within touching distance of absolute majority with 20 seats in the 40-member Goa Assembly.
The BJP predictably failed to make a dent in Punjab where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a spectacular debut, winning a staggering 92 seats and 42 per cent vote share. The AAP’s victory reflected a strong desire for change as the sitting CM Charanjeet Singh Channi and all the former CMs and bigwigs, including Captain Amarinder Singh, Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Navjot Singh Sidhu et al, lost from their respective constituencies.
In Manipur, where the Congress has been straining for a revival under the leadership of Okram Ibobi Singh, the party secured just five seats with 16.33 per cent vote share.
In Uttarakhand, not only did it fail to dislodge the BJP, its chief ministerial candidate Harish Rawat lost his own Lalkuwa seat to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes. The Congress toppled over in Goa too with just 11 seats in the 40-member House. “The Congress’ decline is structural. Our workers have lost faith. The leadership has collapsed,” said a senior Congress MP.
