After the celebrations of victory and the drama of counting that went well into the night, the cold hard facts begin to stare out clearly and boldly from the poll statistics. It was not a great Congress triumph, neither in Rajasthan nor in Madhya Pradesh, but one that came its way by the skin of the teeth. It was a simple majority in Rajasthan and in Madhya Pradesh it went down to a cliffhanger and a hung house with Congress just managing to stake claim to form the government with outside support. But it is the voting percentages that are even closer than the seat tally.
In Madhya Pradesh Congress won with just 0.1 per cent votes more than the BJP, while in Rajasthan where it got quite a few seats more than BJP the difference in the voting percentage was 0.5 per cent. These are not differences that can give Congress reason to drop its guard, it in fact is a cause of worry, as one wrong move between now and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections could swing the mood towards the BJP, bringing the party back into the reckoning. The only comfort for the Congress is in Chhattisgarh where it has polled 10 per cent votes more than the BJP.
There are lessons to be learnt in the results for both parties. The BJP will need to get into some ‘course correction’ as suggested by a Goa minister, as the people’s aspirations are not being met by the policies of the government. The party needs to introspect carefully over the past four years to identify where it has gone wrong and rectify those errors. There is, however, little time to make amends if it wants the lotus to bloom again, as the process for the Lok Sabha polls should start in a couple of months time, forcing the party in power to race against time to reach out to the voters again. Was the sudden demonetisation and the hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax policy moves that benefited the people?
It is obvious that the Hindutva plank of the BJP did not yield the results that the party had hoped it would. Across the country it is development, employment and income that the people are scouring for, and it is no different in Goa. This is what a party is expected to deliver when it is given a mandate to deliver, and if it fails in this, then it cannot expect to retain the people’s confidence. Here’s what occurred this winter, with the discontent showing, and the summer not too far away when the same voters will queue up to exercise their franchise again.
Congress, now back in the reckoning, will have to reach out to the voters with a friendly hand. It has no time to relax but will have to wrest every opportunity to maintain the upsurge in popularity that it has just gained from the people. It has to get down to the grassroots level, across the country, as analysis now shows that BJP’s showing would have been far worse had it not been for its booth management. It is here that Congress falls far behind the BJP, even in Goa where BJP is streets ahead in this aspect. Congress has it task cut out for and will have to deliver in government and at the organisational level.
The close margins mean that the Lok Sabha elections can swing either way. The swing, therefore, will depend on the performance of the government that has been elected. Whatever needs to be done has to be expedited, as with the announcement of the polls the election code of conduct will come into force and bring an end to all development programmes and announcements. Congress has a tough time ahead and yet it took its time in deciding who the chief ministers would be.
