By Venkatesh Raghavan
West Bengal
2021
Party-wise Vote Share
Election Results – 2016
A third consecutive term that favours the Mamta Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) to continue ruling West Bengal has also impacted the opposition ranks across the country in a big way. At last, the seemingly invincible saffron brigade has met with defeat in three of the recent poll-bound states. Though the TMC victory in Bengal cannot be read as a nemesis for the ruling BJP at the Centre, it’s a signal to opposition ranks to get their act together.
The 294 member assembly of the state, had elections cancelled in two of its constituencies owing to death of candidates. As of now, the 292 member assembly, is clearly in the grip of the TMC, which has won 209 seats and is comfortably ahead in four constituencies. The victory figures look to be an enhancement on part of the ruling Party compared to its performance in the previous polls, as is the case with Kerala.
The exit polls and also pre poll analysis were way off mark with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managing to secure only 77 seats in the 292 member assembly. The early poll analysts had predicted a victory for the BJP. At a point of time, the predictions found support from intelligence inputs.
Also read: Durga, Ram and the West Bengal elections
However, the intelligence wing opted to do a a U-turn on the predictions, after Mamta injured her leg in an accident. The revised intelligence inputs too, turned out to be way off mark, as they were foreseeing a neck-to-neck situation that will end with aTMC scrape through. The counting that commenced at 8 am on Sunday, within hours precipitated congratulatory messages on social media platforms from TMC supporters.
There is another flip side to the story, with both the Congress and the Left front that exercised power in the state for nearly six decades unable to open their account in the currently concluded polls despite having entered into an alliance. Though the TMC capturing a comfortable win in the state is getting interpreted as a resurgence wave for the opposition parties, Congress Party’s over all poor performance is a worrying matter for the Political observers who are eying the next general elections.
Tamil Nadu
2021
Party-wise Vote Share 2021
Election Results – 2016
After a decade long stint in power, the ruling All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) that had allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded polls, lost the electoral fray, yielding a convincing victory to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)- Congress alliance, in the process.
MK Stalin who is slated to take over as genNext Chief Minister from the DMK stables, will be consulting with the newly elected legislative team on Tuesday afternoon. The jubilation across the DMK cadres in the state was somewhat subdued owing to the pandemic enforced restrictions.
Also read: Kamal Hasan, Rajnikanth, and the wide open electoral game in Tamil Nadu
Returning to power after a period of 10 years, Stalin and his fresh cabinet team will be tasked with combating the spread of COVID 19, to facilitate restoration of normalcy in the southern state that is currently reeling under an economic crisis. The task cut out before him though daunting, will also serve to bring out his leadership qualities as a Chief Minister.
The DMK on its own had touched the 133-mark, which is well above the number of seats required for a simple majority in the 234-seat legislative assembly. Its poll partner, Congress secured 18 seats, helping the alliance to cross the 150 mark in the assembly.
The first signs of a turnaround in the poll fortunes came much earlier with the demise of the erstwhile AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa soon after she got elected for a second consecutive term as Tamil Nadu chief minister. Rumblings were on that in the absence of an effective second rung leadership, the Party is likely to collapse.
However, the Party managed to survive the crisis with the jail bound Shashikala Natrajan nominating E Palani Swamy as the chief minister. Then came the death of M Karunanidhi, the DMK stalwart, who was in his late nineties, following which, Stalin assumed the reins of the Party.
Prior to the currently concluded round of polls, a DMK Congress victory was widely expected after Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, a staunch BJP supporter, withdrew from the poll fray, citing health reasons. The other Tamil cine celebrity, Kamal Hassan failed in his debut poll attempt, losing by a narrow margin to his BJP rival in the south Coimbatore constituency.
With the arrival of Stalin in the chief ministerial chair, Tamil Nadu politics is entering a new era, where non-film personalities are assuming centre stage.
Assam
2021
Party-wise Vote Share 2021
Election Results- 2016
The second consecutive term captured by the BIP led NDA in Assam, having overcome the anti incumbency factor has sparked jubilation in the Party’s top brass. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal expressed profuse gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders at the Centre. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the star campaigner for the BJP lauded the efforts of the chief minister and also cautioned revellers to keep celebrations low key in view of the pandemic.
The NDA having secured a comfortable lead in 73 of the 126 seats in the state assembly is all set for government formation. There’s however, an air of uncertainty around the choice of the chief minister for the second term of the NDA. Many are hinting at Himanta being nominated for the Chief ministership.
Also read: Can Bodoland People’s Front revive Congress’s fortunes in Assam?
The Assam poll results against the backdrop of farmers agitation and anti CAA protests is a clear indication that the Party cadres have managed to achieve grassroots level support across the state. Assam which had the reputation for being a Congress bastion, traditionally, has comfortably embraced the BJP fold.
A stream of congratulatory messages kept pouring from the Prime Minister and Union home minister Amit Shah, besides other Party cadres in the Centre. Chief Minister Sonowal took to the Twitter handle to thank and express gratitude to the Assam electorate.
Kerala
2021
Party-wise Vote Share 2021
Election Results -2016
The Left Front bettered its own poll record in.the previous elections and captured a comfortable win in the hustings for the Kerala assembly.
Having secured 97 seats in the 140 member assembly, six more than in the previous elections, the LDF leadership claimed credit for development work and the deft handling of the COVID crisis in the state.
One other factor that led to much chest thumping in the Left cadres was that Kerala was the only state in India, where BJP had failed to open its account. In the previous poll the BJP had managed just one seat. This time over however, the Party failed miserably to even retain their toehold.
Tall claims by BJP mouth pieces, predicting at least six to seven seats bit the dust, with all the state level senior Party leaders getting defeated. It may be recalled that RSS functionaries in the state endeavored to win sympathy for the saffron brigade with an eye on elections. Their ploys however failed to work.
The main opponent to the LDF government, namely the Congress led UDF secured 41seats. Though the UDF fared badly in the state, there were many in the state who attributed this to memories being fresh about forced prohibition on the state.
This again has also been the witness to a historical first in the past four decades, with the ruling state cadres being returned to power for a second consecutive term, that too headed by the same chief minister. Hailing the poll results as Kerala being an epitome of secularism, Chief Minister Pinayari Vijayan expressed his gratitude to the state electorate for their overwhelming response.
Puducherry
2021
Party-wise Vote Share 2021
Election Results – 2016
The NDA alliance has managed to cross the halfway mark, having secured more than 15 seats in the 30-member Puducherry assembly. While the DMK bagged 6 seats, poll partner, Congress could muster only 2. Amidst muted celebrations owing to COVID enforced lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah sent congratulatory messages, also expressing their gratitude to the Puducherry electorate.
The Puducherry pre poll scene was plagued with uncertainty as N Rangaswamy who eyed the chief ministership indicated that his party might go out it alone if Home Minister Amit Shah attempted to impose a BJP chief minister on Puducherry.
The Centre subsequently, cleared its stand, paving for an amicable pre poll arrangement. With NDA stamping its victory in the union territory, Rangaswamy is all set to take oath as the chief minister. His INRC happens to be the single largest Party in the union territory, with 10 seats.
Puducherry that had witnessed frequent squabbling between the former Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and duly elected legislative body headed by the Congress, in the previous term, can now look forward to an unstrained phase of governance. The Lt Governor and chief minister hailing from the same political group is sighted as a good sign by the Puducherry electorate.
As of now the BJP cadres are in celebration mode, having acquired a toe hold in the union territory. Significantly, in neighbouring Tamil Nadu too, the BJP managed to secure four seats, which is viewed as a portend to bigger wins for the saffron alliance in the future.
