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Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, March 18: The assembly elections in five states held towards the end of last year was dubbed as a ‘semi-final’ and prelude to the Lok Sabha elections 2019. Whether or not its outcome will influence the upcoming general elections is to be seen but the win in Hindi-heartland states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh from Central zone and Rajasthan breathed new life into the Congress party ahead of the crucial polls and sent a chill up the spine of the BJP.
The Central zone gained more traction than usual from political analysts and enthusiasts ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha polls because of the outcome of the recent assembly elections. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won the ‘semi-final’ match, but will it win in the final?
It will be a different ball game all together. While the UPA has the advantage as it is currently ruling the states, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will try for a repeat of the last general elections.
Madhya Pradesh
With the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) having formed an alliance, the electoral fight in Madhya Pradesh will be fierce yet interesting. BSP chief Mayawati has made it clear that the alliance will not ally with Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, thus leaving the BJP and Congress – on their own. However, the contest will be between the two national political giants if past trends are anything to go by.
The state, which has 29 Lok Sabha seats, will go to the polls in four phases: April 29, and May 6, 12, and 19.
In the 2014 general elections, the BJP won 26 seats and Congress, 3. It was a huge leap for the saffron party, which had won 16 seats against Congress’ 12 in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections that also saw BSP winning one seat.
The state is currently ruled by UPA.
Chhattisgarh
The BJP swept the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the state, winning 10 seats out of the total 11 and leaving only one to its archrival Congress. The national political parties had won the same number of seats in 2009 too.
However, the Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member state assembly held last year and reduced the BJP’s performance from 49 seats in 2013 to just 15. This convincing performance had not only re-energised the Congress workers in the state but also across the country. The two political giants will face yet another litmus test as the state goes to the polls for the 17th Lok Sabha in three phases: April 11, 18 and 23.
UPA is currently ruling the state.
It may be mentioned that more than 900 million people will vote from over one million polling stations spread across 29 states to elect 543 members of parliament for the 17th Lok Sabha. The elections will be held in seven phases starting April 11 till May 19, and the counting of votes will be done on May 23.
