It has been a rather interesting Tuesday for India, which woke up to live updates on the exit polls for state elections held in five Indian states. Over eight thousand candidates contested elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.
After the evaluation of votes in over 1.7 lakh electronic voting machines, the anticipated results for mandate 2019 have been declared for a total of 678 assembly seats. The by-elections started with Chhattisgarh on November 12 for 18 assembly seats, following which, elections were held in Madhya Pradesh on November 20 for 230 seats, and then Mizoram on November 28 for 40 seats. Elections for Rajasthan and Telangana took place last Friday for 199 and 119 seats respectively.
Rajasthan
The Rajasthan state assembly has a total of 200 assembly seats. Last elections held in 2013 were marked by a landslide victory for the Bhartiya Janta Party, which bagged 163 seats. The Indian national congress that maintained its lead from the very beginning in Rajasthan this election had bagged only 21 seats in 2013.
The elections results on Tuesday reinstated Congress majority in the state. The party reached the majority mark, winning a total of 101 assembly seats. Prior to this, the Indian national congress won the 2008 elections with 96 assembly seats.
BJP, on the other hand, dropped by 90 seats, bagging 73 assembly seats this election. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 6 seats and others bagged 19.
One of Congress’ candidates, Sachin Pilot who won in Tonk said, “We welcome all like-minded and anti-BJP parties to support us and we are in touch. Rahul Gandhi became party president a year ago this day, so this result is a gift for him.”
Mizoram
The Mizoram state assembly has a total of 40 assembly seats. The Northeastern state has for the longest time seen a Congress majority. In 2013, INC won 34 seats while the Mizo National Front (MNF) won 5 seats. Prior to which in 2008, INC bagged 32 assembly seats and MNF won 3 assembly seats.
Tuesday’s exit poll, however, favoured the MNF from the start, going up by 21 votes the party won 26 assembly seats. Congress lost its majority by a significant margin with other political parties winning 8 seats, three more than the INC. BJP won one assembly seat.
MNF President, Zoramthanga has asserted that the party will not be forming a coalition with BJP or any other party. He said, “my party can form the govt. on its own as we have got 26 seats out of 40. We’re a part of NEDA (North-East Democratic Alliance) and NDA but we wouldn’t like to join Congress or UPA.”
Madhya Pradesh
The last state assembly elections in the state of Madhya Pradesh, much like Rajasthan, marked a landslide victory for the BJP. The party won a majority of 165 assembly seats while the Congress won 58 of the 230 assembly seats. The BSP secured 4 assembly seats.
This year’s result displayed a close competition between the BJP and Congress. While the INC did not hit the majority mark it did manage to bag 115 assembly seats. BJP, on the other hand, dropped by 58 seats, winning 108 assembly seats. Other parties won 5 seats and the BSP managed 2.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Kakade said “I knew we would lose in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh but Madhya Pradesh trends have come as a surprise. I think we forgot the issue of development that Modi took up in 2014. Ram Mandir, statues and name changing became the focus.”
Telangana
In 2014, Telangana witnessed its first state assembly elections with a total of 119 assembly seats. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won 34% of the vote share and bagged 63 assembly seats while the INC won 25 seats. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formed an alliance with BJP, which won 15 seats.
The second state election held on December 7 witnessed a similar result. The TRS went up 25 seats, crossing the majority mark with 88 assembly seats. Both BJP and Congress dropped their previous seat count with Congress winning 21 seats and BJP, one. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won 7 seats.
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu said, “TDP respects the mandate of people of Telangana. Congratulations to Shri K Chandrasekhar Rao. Also, best wishes to all the newly elected public representatives of 5 states. People recognize that BJP has done nothing in the last five years and moving towards an alternative. People are with us in our fight against BJP. These five states results will help form a strong alternative to the BJP.”
Chhattisgarh
In 2013 state elections, Congress won 39 of the 90 assembly seats while the BJP won a majority of 49 seats. BSP and other political parties won one seat each.
This year’s election took place in two phases, first on November 12 and then on November 20. The INC crossed the majority mark of 46 seats, winning 66 assembly seats. BJP, on the other hand, witnessed a fall in the number of seats it won last year, winning only 15 assembly seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party won 7 assembly seats.
