09/12/2013
BJP scores 4-0, Cong crushed, AAP stuns
BJP Sunday retained Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, snatched Rajasthan from the Congress but was denied a clear win in Delhi by the debutant Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) spectacular showing.
In Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot was undercut by C P Joshi and in Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi by Charandas Mahant. In Madhya Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia was projected far too late.
Rajasthan: BJP Sunday returned to power in Rajasthan after five years, winning a record 162 seats and leaving the Congress bruised with just 21 members in the 200-seat legislature.
This win by the BJP is the best performance among all parties in the history of the state. The previous record was by the Congress, which won 153 seats in the 1998 elections. The Congress won just 21 seats, the party’s worst performance. Before this election, the party’s lowest tally was in 1977 when it won 41 seats.
Incumbent chief minister Ashok Gehlot met Governor Margaret Alva in the evening and submitted his resignation, while state Congress president Chandrabhan, who not only lost from Mandawa constituency but also forfeited his deposit, sent his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi.
BJP sources told IANS that the party has already started making preparations for the oath-taking ceremony of Vasundhara Raje as the chief minister. “She is likely to take oath in the next four or five days,” a party source said.
“Vasundhara-ji always takes astrological advice before undertaking any good work, so I feel she will consult a pundit before deciding on the date of taking oath,” he added.
Election in one seat, Churu, was countermanded due to the death of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Jagdish Meghwal. The poll is now slated for Dec 13.
Chhattisgarh: After hours of nail-biting suspense, the BJP Sunday finally retained power in Chhattisgarh to begin a third five-year term.
After seven hours of fluctuating fortunes for the BJP and the Congress, a jubilant Chief Minister Raman Singh claimed victory with 49 of the 90 seats in his kitty.
“It is peoples’ victory, the mandate is for development,” he said. The Congress, which at one time looked as if it would oust the BJP, conceded defeat.
Its state unit chief and Central Minister Charandas Mahant said: “It’s hard to digest defeat. We worked hard but the bitter fact is that Congress has lost and now it’s time for serious introspection.”
Chhattisgarh was seen as a weak spot in the region for the BJP.
As officials counted the mass of votes Sunday, the Congress took an initial lead over the BJP -- only to start trailing later. The fluctuation in fortunes continued for hours.
Madhya Pradesh: BJP romped home in Madhya Pradesh Sunday, winning the mandate to be in power for the third consecutive five-year term by trouncing the Congress. BJP won 165 seats, zooming past the half-way mark in the 230-member assembly and ensuring a third term as chief minister for Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The Congress was a distant second, bagging only 58 seats. BSP won four seats, while independents emerged victorious in three places.
Chouhan, who could barely contain his joy, described the BJP’s victory in Madhya Pradesh as a triumph of its ideology.
It was, however, not all good news for the party. The BJP had fielded 30 of its ministers, seven of whom lost.
In the last assembly, the BJP had 143 members and the Congress 71. The voting percentage this time was 70 percent of the total electorate of 46,457,724.
Cong crashed by AAP, BJP in Delhi
In a huge defeat for the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal defeated three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Diksh*t in New Delhi constituency by 22,000 votes.
Of the 70 seats, BJP won 31, Congress 8 and AAP 28 while others got 3 seats. Samajwadi Party failed to make its presence in Delhi.
“This is not my victory... It is a victory of people of New Delhi constituency and victory of democracy,” said Kejriwal after defeating Diksh*t.
Earlier, Diksh*t resigned as Delhi chief minister as the BJP inched towards wresting power in Delhi after 15 years. Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung dissolved the outgoing house. The Congress was pushed to the third position with a single digit tally by debutant AAP, which has made a dent in strongholds of the ruling party.
BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan defeated the other doctor, Vinod Kumar Monga, by over 40,000 votes in Krishna Nagar constituency. In 2008, he had won seat by 800 votes.
So humiliating was the Congress rout in three places-- in Chhattisgarh alone it put up a fight -- that a sombre looking Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that the outcome “calls for deep introspection”.
“We have to understand to look at the many reasons for this defeat,” she said, as leader after leader, looking despondent, sought to argue that the results were no reflection of the national mood.
BJP MP Smriti Irani said the anti-Congress wave betrayed the popular mood against the party’s top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
“This vote is not only due to bad policies, corruption and inflation but also against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi,” she said.
Kejriwal earned the grudging admiration of even his foes as his party, born out of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.
The Ramon Magsaysay award winner said the AAP would play the role of “a constructive opposition”. He added that the AAP’s showing marked the start of “honest politics” in India. “Ours is a historic win.”
Sonia Gandhi says Congress will announce its PM candidate
Accepting the people’s verdict with “humility”, top leadership of the Congress on Sunday pledged to transform the party ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls for which it would announce its prime ministerial candidate “at the opportune time”. Stating that the party was “very, very disappointed” over the assembly results in four states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said there was a need to do “deep introspection”.
Briefly analysing the causes for the defeat, Gandhi said there were a number of reasons, which included price rise and different issues. Gandhi expressed confidence that the results of assembly polls will not have a bearing on the next Lok Sabha polls.
“General elections are quite different. People in state elections do focus on personality at the state level, at leaders who are likely to lead them,” she said. However, in national elections “people look at the person who is likely to guide them and govern them at the national level”, the Congress chief said. Initially she appeared reluctant to give an answer when asked whether Rahul would be named as the prime ministerial candidate. “We will make a statement. The party has to decide.
The party will decide at the opportune time,” she said. Rahul said through the elections, “people have given us a message, which we have heard.”
