The Election Commission has announced poll dates in 5 states namely Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana. The elections will be held from November 12 to December 7. The results of all the 5 states will be declared on December 11. With the Lok Sabha elections poised to be held during the summer of 2015 these elections will prove to be the litmus test both for the ruling alliance at the Centre and the opposition as well.
Presently BJP is ruling in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh while it is the Congress rule in Mizoram and in Telangana the regional party TRS has been in power since its bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh. It is worth noting that in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh BJP is in power for the last three consecutive terms and seems to be still going strong under the Modi-Shah combine.
The elections in Rajasthan seem to be poised for some surprise, for in the past the power has been oscillating between the two main parties, BJP and Congress over the last few years. That apart the ruling BJP in the state has stolen the limelight for wrong reasons, quite often under the unrest caused by the ‘gaurakshaks’, unnecessarily targeting the innocent people under the garb of cattle smuggling for slaughtering and mercilessly lynching them even to death. Whether the party in power will have to pay for all such lapses will be known by December 11.
What is most remarkable is the BJP is making inroads in NorthEast. Just to cite one example the BJP candidates had lost their deposits in 49 of the 50 seats in the Assembly elections in Tripura. But in the very next elections it wrested power from the Left Front effortlessly and formed the government. That should spell the fate in Mizoram which is the only state in Northeast where the BJP is not in power either on its own or through an alliance and it is worth waiting to watch whether the BJP would oust the Congress in the Christian dominated state.
In Telangana as in other states like AP and Tamil Nadu, it is normally the regional parties that rule the roost and things may not change. The electioneering will pick up momentum and surely it is bound to reach the zenith. Let us only hope that the parties notably the BJP and the Congress would stop mudslinging at each other and use the podium to highlight their agenda in marching the states towards peace and prosperity if elected to power.
