It had since lost power in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Jammu &Kashmir.
Advertisement
Facing a tough opponent in DMK-Congress alliance, AIADMK slipped on its past performance as it won 37 seats and was ahead in 96 seats (total 133 seats), 17 less than last time. In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Trinamool Congress and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), respectively, beat anti-incumbency to form government for a second time, while in Kerala the Left secured a clear victory. Of the seven exit polls conducted by media agencies, six had predicted a win for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the main opposition. Including those wins, the TMC is leading in 212 seats.
This is expected to raise aspirations in other poll-bound states – especially in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, which face elections next year.
Modi termed the Assam win as a sign of support for the party’s ideology of development. “We will keep fighting”, said Mishra.
“The parents really appreciated this subsidy, which was an eye-opener when we did our surveys”, he added.
By losing the States of Kerala and Assam to the Left front and the BJP, respectively, the Congress has shrunk its command to five small States and Karnataka. Had the BJP built itself up in West Bengal organisationally and kept up its campaign against the Trinamool, there is no doubt that it could have emerged as the principal opposition party in West Bengal in these elections and given Mamata a run for her (Saradha) money.
However, the BJP, which made its first major attempt to usurp power ousting the two fronts, failed miserably with only senior BJP leader O Rajagopal winning from Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram.
But that dependence on Mamata will change before 2016 is over when the BJP picks up more seats in the Upper House.
Party president Amit Shah referred to the election results as an endorsement of the two-year old Modi rule, and a “punishment” for the disruptive tactics adopted by the Congress in Parliament to negate the 2014 mandate.
The AGP bagged 14 seats while the BPF secured 12 seats. When a party transforms itself from a structured political party to a crowd around the family, then the inevitable consequences of that is that the family, because its strength and appeal is lacking, can become a liability for the party. “We have taken two more steps towards fulfilling PM’s slogan of Congress-free India”, he said referring to Congress defeats in Assam and Kerala.
Through its campaign in the state, the party promised Assamese voters that illegal Muslim immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh would be deported.
Election of Sarbananda Sonowal is a formality as he was declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate before the polls and led it to a stupendous maiden victory in the north eastern state. It is the first time that the BJP will be in power in Assam. Thursday’s results showed that the tide was beginning to turn for the saffron party: it has won 64 seats in all, including winning a majority in Assam and extending its reach to Kerala.
Advertisement
Ms Banerjee attributed her party’s repeated success in West Bengal to her ability to run a clean government.
