- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
DESPITE the popularity of prime minister Narendra Modi, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to meet expectations in the bypolls to various state assemblies and the Lok Sabha held on October 30. The results energised the opposition Indian National Congress which has been losing a series of elections against the saffron camp and senior leader from the party and former Indian minister P Chidambaram asked which way the wind will blow in 2022. As many as seven states in India will go to elections next year, many of which are being ruled by the BJP.
The 76-year-old Harvard-educated Chidambaram, who has been India’s finance and home minister in Congress governments, said in a few tweets both in English and Hindi, “Here is a thought-provoking analysis of the results of by-elections in 30 assembly constituencies. BJP won 7 seats and its declared allies won 8 seats. Congress won 8 seats. Non-BJP parties won 7 seats of which only 1 seat was won by a crypto ally of the BJP, namely YSR Congress. The other 6 seats were won by parties opposed to the BJP.”
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“The honours are even today. Which way will the wind blow in 2022?” Chidambaram questioned.
Here is a thought provoking analysis of the results of by-elections in 30 assembly constituencies.
BJP won 7 seats and its declared allies won 8 seats.
Congress won 8 seats.
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 3, 2021
Non-BJP parties won 7 seats of which only 1 seat was won by a crypto ally of the BJP, namely YSR Congress.
The other 6 seats were won by parties opposed to the BJP.The honours are even today. Which way will the wind blow in 2022?
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) November 3, 2021
Three bypolls were also held to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament and the honours were split even there with the BJP winning one seat in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh that it rules, the Congress snatching the seat of Mandi from the BJP in Himachal Pradesh where the saffron party is in power and the Shiv Sena winning the Dadra and Nagar Haveli seat, its first ever outside Maharashtra.
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The BJP’s most shocking results came in Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan. In Himachal, the Congress wrested two seats from the BJP – one assembly seat besides Mandi – besides retaining the other two that went to the bypolls. In Bengal, the BJP lost all four assembly seats to the ruling Trinamool Congress, including two which it had won in the state election earlier this year. In Rajasthan, where the Congress is in power, the grand-old party won both the seats that went to the polls, besides winning one seat in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The BJP and its allies did well in states like Bihar and Assam where they are in power and Telangana, where the saffron party wrested a seat of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti. It also won a seat in Karnataka though lost a crucial seat in the home district of the state’s new chief minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also ecstatic over the bypoll results as he said in a tweet in Hindi, “Every victory for the Congress is a victory of our party worker. Keep fighting hate. No fear!”
कांग्रेस की हर जीत हमारी पार्टी के कार्यकर्ता की जीत है।
नफ़रत के ख़िलाफ़ लड़ते रहो। डरो मत!Every victory for the Congress is a victory of our party worker.
Keep fighting hate. No fear! #BypollResults2021— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 2, 2021
