By Mayank Jain:
The widespread speculation and thrill in the whole country has finally come to an end in the semi-finals of impending general elections due in 2014. Four states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh went to polls in December and people came out in huge numbers to vote and delivered their verdict. We have analysed and summarized the results coming from all the four regions below, which bring home the people’s verdict:
Delhi:
The national capital has been Congress’ fortress for the past 15 years with Sheila Dikshit coming to power for three consecutive terms since 1998 but the common anti-incumbency trend brought them to a halt this time. The whole country has been fighting a slowing economy in the midst of scams coming one after another from UPA’s kitty and the emotion certainly reflected in the national capital. BJP has received a clear lead over the Congress but Aam Aadmi Party has stolen the show. It is a dream debut for a party that’s just over a year old to break BJP-INC deadlock in the state to secure the second highest seats for itself with the power of clean image and strong campaigning. Voters in Delhi turned out to vote in large numbers with almost 65% turnout recorded and voting had to be extended till 7 p.m. in many polling booths due to long queues of voters eager to deliver their mandate.
It is indeed refreshing and faith inducing to see people of the national capital making choices from their heads rather than sentiments. AAP’s climb speaks of the anger against corruption and lax governance and if the results are anything to go by then the future of Indian democracy is in much better hands i.e. the new generation of voters who don’t think twice before punishing a bad government and reward ground work more than just lip service.
Current results: BJP’s clean sweep has been stopped midway by the rise of AAP. The party has secured 33 seats with AAP coming to a close second place with 27 seats. The congress has come down to an all time low figure of 8 seats. 2 seats were secured by other candidates but the highlight is the defeat of Shiela Dikshit and the win of Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat.
UPDATE: Delhi Is Headed For A Hung Assembly; Here’s What You Need To Know About It
Madhya Pradesh:
The second largest state of India, Madhya Pradesh is home to one of the most crucial seats in the Lok Sabha and these elections are a projection of the trends for future government in power on the national stage. BJP already has had a large control over the state in the past term with able administration of Shivraj Singh Chauhan. He has been in power for the last two terms and now he is getting ready for a third term in office.
The major issue to see here is the effect the ‘Modi image’ that has worked to the disadvantage of Congress. Narendra Modi did spend a considerable time in the states campaigning for BJP and the results effectively echo public sentiment. BJP has only gotten stronger from the last elections and bagged more seats which display the anti-congress wave visible all around the country.
Elections in Madhya Pradesh have come a long way from being fought on trivial issues to more fundamental ones including development, inflation and citizen’s empowerment and the government has seemingly done a good job which the mandate has reflected as well. It’ll be interesting to see if the second largest state of India springs as a surprise front runner in the growth story with stable administration and empowered voters.
Current results: BJP has more than comfortably breezed to the majority mark securing 161 seats and there is a huge loss to the congress this time and it could only secure 61 seats. Other candidates also had a minimal participation and they bagged 8 seats.
Rajasthan:
The country’s heritage state full of forts and kings which once ruled over the whole country is one of the most interesting political battlefields in the country. Rajasthan has always been all about development and recovering from the previous changes in governance as the office has been shuffled from BJP to Congress time and again in every election.
People in Rajasthan this time have shown their will to change the incumbent government again and this has resulted in thunderous win for the BJP which was waiting for their turn in the opposition for five long years. It has been a game of musical chairs between incumbent Ashok Gehlot and Vasundhra Raje for the past 15 years where they ruled alternatively but no government could please voters enough to ask for a second team.
Since the BJP has made a victorious comeback to power this time in Rajasthan coupled with wins in other regions as well, they have a chance to make things better and turn the anti-incumbent sentiment into pro BJP once and for all while Congress seeks to remedy its follies and gets ready for the future which is still largely uncertain.
Current results: It is time for the BJP government here as well and Vasundhra Raje must be gearing up to enter office once again. BJP has reached the majority mark with 161 seats and Congress on the other hand could only manage 23 seats. Congress has suffered a massive blow in Rajasthan and it is a result of public dissent.
Chhattisgarh:
Chhattisgarh is one of the newest states in the country and has already been the centre of turmoil and political games after its separation from Madhya Pradesh. The state is 10th largest in the country and deals with a lot of problems including political ignorance, lack of strict governance and insurgency issues with Maoists. The state is relatively new and has had Raman Singh as its Chief Minister since 2007. He is gearing up for his third term as BJP is confident to emerge victorious but Congress is counting its blessings on the hope that people look vote on the issues of development and get it back to the power so that it can continue the plans which were left off in 2007 when Ajit Jogi went out of office.
The state recently got affected from the cyclone Phailin and the level of preparedness in the event of a disaster might have an impact on the way votes got swayed. The government displayed good efforts in minimizing the damage which is a good thing for the incumbent BJP government but the level of preparedness was minimal and Congress tried its best to capitalize on that.
The new government formation is on its way and if the results have any weightage then we can expect a close contest between both parties in the future as well because clean image coupled with tough governance is a difficult act to pull off and the magic of Raman Singh could fade away any moment or just last forever.
Current Results: This is a close finish in the state of Chhattisgarh because BJP and Congress were looking to be head to head since the counting began and the final numbers reflect the same. BJP has secured 45 seats and Congress could manage 43 seats.
*Numbers as at 5:00pm on 8th, December, 2013