- Tuesday, December 03, 2024
The outcome of the north-eastern state of Mizoram will be announced on December 4.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SUNDAY, December 3, was set to be a big day in Indian politics as results of elections in four states will be announced during the day. They will be significant for both prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Indian National Congress and a few other regional parties ahead of next year’s general polls.
Five states went to polls between November 7 and 30 and they are: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. Results in Mizoram will be declared on Monday (4), keeping in mind Sunday observance of the Christian-majority state.
Of the other four states, three are from the Hindi heartland where Modi’s BJP and the Congress are expected to have a close contest and the remaining one (Telangana) in the south which is the youngest state in the country and has been ruled by the regional Bharat Rashtra Samithi since its birth a decade ago.
Read: Modi’s BJP, Rahul Gandhi’s Congress in tight race in 5 state elections, say exit polls
In Rajasthan, 199 of 200 constituencies polled on November 25 in a single phase and the voter turnout was more than 75 per cent. The state sees a change in government every five years and this time, the ruling Congress is determined to break the tradition and continue to be in power. The chief minister is Ashok Gehlot, one of the Grand Old Party’s veteran leaders and the BJP, which has seen internal feud, has used the appeal of Modi in a bid to dethrone him. The magic figure to form a government in the state is 101.
Read: In India’s ongoing 5 state polls, 18% candidates have criminal record, 29% are millionaires
Madhya Pradesh has remained a BJP stronghold since 2003 and barring a short time after the 2018 elections when the Congress formed the government but could not sustain as several of its members pulled out. According to some exit polls after the state’s single-phase election on November 17 when 230 seats went to polling with a turnout of more than 77 per cent, the BJP was set to return under Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been the chief minister four times. However, the Congress is not giving up its hope to bag one of India’s big states either. The magic figure for majority is 116.
Chhattisgarh, which was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, saw elections to its 90 seats in two phases on November 7 and 17. The average voter turnout was 73 per cent. Exit polls predict a tight race in this Congress-ruled state which the BJP has dominated in its two-decade history. The chief minister is Bhupesh Baghel who assumed office in 2018, replacing Raman Singh who was in power for 15 years. The magic figure for majority is 46.
Telangana’s 119 seats saw polling on November 30 and the voter turnout was 70.6 per cent. The Congress is predicted to win the state which the BRS of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has dominated for a decade now. The BJP, which has remained a distant player in this state, is unlikely to produce any miracle this time. A party/alliance needs 60 seats to form the government.
