Maha triumph

THE pro-incumbency factor proved decisive as the BJP-led Mahayuti recorded a thumping victory in Maharashtra and the JMM-helmed alliance retained power in Jharkhand. INDIA, the Opposition bloc, managed to withstand the saffron onslaught in Jharkhand, but the stunning debacle in Maharashtra — a politically far more important state than the other one — must have hurt badly. For the BJP, which has developed a knack for winning elections against heavy odds, it was a dream outcome in one state and a disappointing one in the other.

Perhaps even die-hard supporters of the BJP would not have anticipated the magnitude of the triumph in Maharashtra. Less than six months ago, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – comprising the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) – had outclassed the BJP and its allies in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. That impressive performance had raised the MVA’s hopes that it could pull off a similar feat in the Assembly polls. The alliance was undone by overconfidence and disunity, with the Congress failing to learn any lesson from the Haryana shocker. In contrast, Mahayuti went all out to woo voters; welfare schemes such as the women-centric Ladki Bahin Yojana worked wonders. Moreover, the split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP paid the BJP rich dividends. It’s now up to the victorious alliance to ensure that government formation takes place smoothly, unlike the chaos and uncertainty witnessed after the BJP-Shiv Sena combine won the 2019 elections.

The Jharkhand verdict is an endorsement of CM Hemant Soren’s tribal-friendly policies. The corruption charges levelled by the Enforcement Directorate against him cut no ice with voters, who resisted the lure of electing a ‘double-engine’ government. The Congress has done enough to stay in power as a junior ally of the JMM, but the rout in Maharashtra has undermined its position as INDIA’s pre-eminent party.