Indian leader’s party wins by landslide in key state elections

BJP SNIFFS AN OPPORTUNITY Here’s how that could be possible in Goa.

If Uttar Pradesh is undoubtedly the jewel in Modi’s resplendent crown, the massive win in Uttarakhand – where the Congress and the BJP have so far been close contenders – only adds to its lustre. Since the BJP didn’t project a chief ministerial face in UP, this triumph has to be credited to the PM’s continuing popularity.

Congress’s current scion, Rahul Gandhi, had hoped to turn a strong showing for its UP alliance into a springboard for the 2019 general election.

Uttar Pradesh was among five states that went to the polls in multiple phases last month and this month.

Punjab is the only state in which a BJP loss has been unanimously predicted.

Three exit polls Axis My India, C-Voter and MRC had given the BJP an edge over its competitors.

“It is a Modi wave”, BJP Uttar Pradesh chief Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters. The outcome of the voting in Uttar Pradesh will also alter the makeup of Parliament’s upper house, which is elected by state assemblies. While AAP did not open its account in the tiniest state, it is the smaller parties and the Independent candidates that will now play a major role in deciding the political fate of Goa.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is well ahead of rivals in an election in the country’s most populous state, but may fall short of an absolute majority, four major exit polls showed on Thursday. It was a partner in the previous government as well but the two contested elections separately.

Even if the BJP manages to cobble up the government, which seems very unlikely, Goa results are big setback to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who had won the state for the BJP in 2012.

The BSP had got 80 seats with a 25.91 per cent vote share.

His imprint, as one of the most formidable models of political leadership in recent times, was writ large on other subterranean trends, like a unifying anti-incumbency vote across the states.

The BJP’s win in Uttar Pradesh bucked expectations that the difficulties caused by Mr Modi’s recent demonetisation policy would cost it the election.

Congress is claiming it will wrest power in Punjab. Congress could get between 15-30 seats. The BJP has, in fact, has crossed 300 seat wins in the state. The BJP’s count in such seats fell from 9 to 3. The BJP also looked poised to retain its hold on the state of Goa. This poll gives SAD-BJP 7 seats.

The BJP was a giving Congress a tough fight in Manipur, Goa was also heading for a photo finish and the only solace for the Congress was its comprehensive victory in Punjab. The total number of seats in Manipur assembly is 60. Winning 17 seats in an Assembly of 40, the Congress has nearly doubled its tally from 2012.

If the numbers hold, this would be the BJP’s best result in the state since 1996, riding on the back of personal campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who fronted the campaign to the extent that the party positioned no chief ministerial candidate.

BJP’s calculative target towards providing rural masses with LPG connections, round-the-clock electricity supply and housing for the poor turned in favour clocking a thumping victory of 2/3 majority for the party.

The India News/MRC poll puts the Congress and AAP neck and neck at 55 seats each. BJP could not make a mark in the state and did not win a single seat.

In Punjab, the race between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is too close to call.