Assembly Elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal
Assembly Elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal
We have yet again witnessed a war of nerves between the national Parties and the regional satraps. This time it was in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh. The Congress Party under the leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi has been largely successful in coming to power Maharashtra and Arunachal, though it is six short of simple majority in the Haryana State. This shortage in numbers is sought to be made good by roping in the support of independents, which were from the congress camp, but denied official ticket to contest. Arunachal voters have extended their unqualified support to Congress and have negated all others in the fray with TMC and NCP getting a little solace.
The BJP has been the worst sufferer in the last Parliamentary elections and in the just concluded elections in the states. The chintan Baithaks held by the BJP have not given them any better, as the party remained embroiled in internal dissensions and rivalries. Senior Party leaders have remained busy in showing one-upmanship to others in the party. After the Lok Sabha Elections, Apte Committee also hinted to the internal squabbles, rivalries and the trend on showing one-upmanship the reasons for the decline in the influence of the party among the electorate. The same factor seems to have played again to dump the party prospects in the elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal
Though the BJP does not explicitly acknowledge the impact of Rahul Gandhi factor in the elections to Lok Sabha and the state assembly elections, yet this factor has cast a shadow on the prospects of the BJP in these elections is also not denied rather admitted implicitly. In Haryana, the party could not guess the mood of the electorate either in the Lok Sabha elections or in assembly elections, and has therefore been a huge sufferer. INLD on the other hand made good its lost ground and has wrested 20 seats from the Congress. Its leader Om Prakash Chautala is claiming the verdict is in favour of the opposition and not Congress. As out of 90 Seats, 60 seats have gone to opposition parties and independents. Kuldeep Bishnoi, the HJC seems to have emerged in the role of the kingmaker.
Haryana Congress President Phool Chand Mullana has staked the Congress claim to form the government in the state, being the largest single party. Like the other incumbents, Bhupinder Singh Hooda is expected to don the mantle of CM again in Haryana. Ku. Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala are also in the race and have already met the Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi. It is pertinent to note here that the Congress did not do as well as was expected. This is attributed to the ‘over confidence’ that prevailed in the ruling party in the state. State Congress leaders have been proving themseves wrong by showing undue optimism. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi seem to be the only bets wherever the party has to wrest power.
The congress party has done well in Maharashtra. Raj Thakre of Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena attempted to spoil the beans for Shiv Sena and the BJP. Sena has blamed young voters and the congress for dividing Marathi votes and delivering a setback to it. Sena has won 44 seats against its earlier tally of 63. It is now clear that the vision of Sonia Gandhi was remarkable in keeping the Congress NCP alliance intact, despite appeals to the contrary. Sonia Gandhi prevailed upon the NCP to contest on lesser number of seats that it had demanded. In addition, Congress seems to have improved on its earlier tally of 69 to 82 in the recent elections. NCP winning on 62 seats against 112 contested is also impressive. It seems that the Congress NCP would have won the elections comfortably even if MNS had not spilled the beans of Sena and BJP.
Congress has won 2/3 rd majority in the Arunachal Assembly. It has won 40 out of 60 seats in which went to polls. Congress party fought the elections on the plank of development agenda of the party with a special focus on the Prime Minister’s infrastructure development package. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul would love a repeat of this in each state in the country.
With the elections now over in the three states, it is time for the political parties to ponder over the results. However, one thing is clear that parties suffered due to internal squabbles. BJP has been more a victim of this. Congress too has to accept this blame. Haryana, which returned nine congress MPs to Lok Sabha only months back, failed to garner even simple majority. It is time for Haryana Congress to set its house in order and be responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people. Even elsewhere where it has done well,it needs to introspect to be out of the squabbles and put the party on firmer grounds. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are well set to bring the party to its previous glory and every Congressman should strengthen their hands by following their line faithfully.
Satish Chandra Sharma
General Secretary,
Chandigarh Social Welfare Council,
Cell: 9888 255 128.
A Post Graduate in Economics from University of Delhi and a Social activist now. Presently as General Secretary of Chandigarh Social Welfare Council, an NGO, am working in the field of up gradation of infrastructure and regularization of the General Power of Attorney holders in cooperative housing societies at Chandigarh.At my initiative, Chandigarh Administration has done a re-look into the matter raised by me. The rules sought to be applied till now have been observed as “repealed” by the JSF, Chandigarh Administration, yet some of the junior level functionaries are passing on the matter to their seniors in a mechanical manner and hence the woes of the hapless GPAs have yet to be redressed by the Administration. I shall continue writing on the subject and every subsequent article shall endeavor to bring out the anamolied Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/weather-articles/assembly-elections-in-haryana-maharashtra-and-arunachal-1376000.html