News Desk |
Early state election results in the central state of Madhya Pradesh show a nail-biting contest between India’s ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. The results show a late comeback for the BJP in the state. Early results showed a clear lead for the Congress.
However, Congress is leading in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which were previous BJP strongholds. Correspondents say the polls will boost the opposition ahead of general elections due in 2019. This is the last round of state polls before general elections, which are to be held in the next few months.
The Congress was widely expected to win in the northern state of Rajasthan, while Madhya Pradesh was always seen as a close contest between the two parties.
The Congress’s vastly improved performance in the three key heartland states will help change the perception that Mr. Modi’s BJP is invincible, boost the morale of Congress party workers and make it more acceptable to skeptical regional allies in the run-up to general elections. It will also help raise the profile of the party’s leader, Rahul Gandhi, who led a spirited campaign in the three states.
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In 2014, the BJP won 62 of the 65 parliamentary seats in these three states. Tuesday’s performance will be a shot in the arm for the Congress which has consistently lost state elections since 2014 – the party rules in only two major states. But state polls are often a poor predictor for the general elections.
It will take a lot more – including a powerful counter-narrative and wider voter acceptability – for the Congress to mount a serious challenge to Mr. Modi next year. Regional parties – the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the Mizo National Front (MNF) – are leading in these states.
The results show a late comeback for the BJP in the state. Early results showed a clear lead for the Congress.
The Congress was widely expected to win in the northern state of Rajasthan, while Madhya Pradesh was always seen as a close contest between the two parties. But early results in Chhattisgarh, where the Congress is ahead by a wide margin, have been the most surprising.
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An anti-incumbency vote against the BJP in the three key states had been predicted, and some analysts point out people vote differently at state and national level. But the results so far suggest a very visible setback for the BJP, which had steadily increased its state footprint since coming to office.
And issues of rural discontents – such as unemployment, lack of development and farming distress – are being seen as issues that could affect ballots next year. Nitin Srivastava who is in Rajasthan has been posting photos of the starkly different atmospheres at the BJP and Congress party offices in the state