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The assembly elections of five states- Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, were seen as the final opportunity for political parties, especially BJP and Congress to arrange their houses in order before the final battle begins. The result of these elections defied the predictions made by ‘Political Pundits’, and delivered both surprise and shock across the political spectrum of the country.
BJP was able to secure a win in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, with chest thumping majority. Congress successfully ousted the incumbent BRS in Telangana, whereas in Mizoram, Zoram People’s Movement- ZPM, a comparatively newer party led by a former IPS officer Lalduhawma defeated the Mizo National Front.
Keeping the Lok Sabha arithmetic in mind, the results of MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, which together constitutes 82 seats in Lok Sabha, were keenly watched. One thing which seems to have helped BJP’s prospect in terms of its general election strategy, was their decision to not declare any Chief Ministerial face in any of the state. A catapulted risk was taken to put the entire focus on the ‘Brand Modi’, which ultimately delivered the results in their favour. For Congress, the election results came no lesser than a shock. The Party appeared to be confident of winning MP, Chhattisgarh and Telangana at least.
Other parties of the INDIA bloc were too keenly watching the results. Signals indicate that though they are wary of the BJP gaining strength before the Lok Sabha polls, but have taken a sigh of relief as a ‘weakened Congress’ will increase their bargaining power during seat sharing between parties in the grand coalition.
Meanwhile, the Congress is still grappling with the questions raised over its understanding of electoral behaviour of the voters. Despite the several financial headwinds highlighted by their own party leaders, Congress went on to declare a return to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in Madhya Pradesh, and even returned to the same in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In Rajasthan, it even brought the revolutionary Right to Health bill. In Chhattisgarh too, a lieu of tribal welfare schemes was launched by the Bhupesh Baghel government. But despite this the party failed to achieve the desired election results. It has given a serious jolt to the motivation of its party cadres in their preparations for the general elections, scheduled to be held next year.
BJP, on the other hand, known for its ‘all time election’ mode, has further enhanced its social engineering calculations with the choice of Chief Ministers in three respective states. Not only the complex caste equations are being balanced, but also a signal seems to be given by the high command to its grassroot cadres, that in the BJP, the hard work of even a small ‘karyakarata’ is acknowledged.
With Rahul Gandhi embarking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0, a sense of unity among the opposition parties in the wake of mass suspension of Parliamentarians, Sangh Parivar’s mass scale cultural rejuvenation programmes leading up to the ‘Pran Pratishtha Samaroh’ of Ram Mandir, and BJP traveling on an all-time high wave of ‘Brand Modi’, the general elections 2024 seem to have got a new lease of life. Which side the table will turn only time will tell. But if the recent assembly elections are to be seen as the final opportunity for parties to test their strategies, the Saffron party seems to have taken an edge over the others.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.