Lucknow/New Delhi:
Five states voted; four have delivered decisive mandates. Tuesday was a good day for democracy.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, 72, will be Chief Minister of UP with a spectacular haul of 224 seats in the 403-seat Assembly. Parkash Singh Badal, officially 84, will be the Chief Minister of Punjab, having created history by beating Punjab's dreaded anti-incumbency factor. In Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh, 61, has battled crippling political setbacks to script a hat-trick for the Congress. The BJP has a masterful win in Goa and Manohar Parrikar, 56, is tipped to be CM. All four men have helmed these states before.
Uttarakhand failed to give any party a majority. In the 70-seat House, the BJP has won 31 seats, the Congress 32, and either party could form government.
The day's biggest winner, the Samajwadi Party, back in power having promised Uttar Pradesh freedom from "goonda raj", was tested almost immediately. Irate SP workers, said to be upset about a local candidate's defeat, have reportedly attacked a group of journalists forcing them to hide in a Jhansi school. The journalists say they are trapped with the Samajwadi men threatening to break down the door. They have also smashed cameras.
The incident happened but a few hours after Akhilesh Yadav, who attempted an image makeover for the SP, thanked UP and promised the state great law and order. On NDTV, Akhlesh has promised that the "culprits will be punished." From Sambhal came more bad news. SP men celebrating a local candidate's victory in the elections, fired indiscriminately killing the nine-year-old son of a unskilled worker.
Akhilesh Yadav and father Mulayam clearly have their task cut out in the days ahead. They have made many promises and Akhilesh vowed today to implement his manifesto for the prosperity of UP. He was also magnanimous in victory and said Mayawati's big elephants and statues would not be pulled down - last year he had promised to raze them to the ground. That would bring little cheer to the BSP chief, who is the day's biggest loser. Mayawati, is a poor second in UP, with her BSP getting just 80 seats, 128 seats less than her winning score of 206 last time. All of those numbers fell into the SP's kitty - it has 129 seats more than it did in 2007; the BJP and the Congress were till the end of day fighting hard for third and fourth slot. The BJP began the day well but soon floundered to get three seats less than the 51 it had last time.
The UP assembly elections 2012 were also about Rahul Gandhi's all-out effort to resurrect the party in the state; he played every card he had - personal charisma, family, earnest national leader, messiah of the downtrodden, Muslim quota, the promise to rid the state of Mayawati. For all that, the Congress has six more seats in its kitty than the 22 it had in 2007 - it even lost Amethi in Rahul's Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress General Secretary drove to his mother's residence at 10 Janpath this afternoon to say, "I led this campaign, I take responsibility." He said his party had underperformed as it was not organisationally strong, but he would continue to try and win UP one day. Rahul Gandhi also congratulated the SP on its big UP win, saying "the mood was clearly for SP."
(I take responsibility, says Rahul Gandhi about UP results) The mood in Punjab too did not favour the Congress. The state had a long tradition of voting out whoever is in power. A 40-year-old tradition. The Shiromani Akali Dal changed that statistic today . With ally BJP, it has won 68 seats in the 117-seat Assembly. The exact number it had the last time, only this time the BJP contributed less to the pie. Captain Amarinder Singh, who said yesterday that he was cooking the Akali goose, is having to eat his words. The Congress ended the day with 46 seats. Parkash Singh Badal and son Sukhbir thanked Punjab for returning them to power. For Parkash Singh Badal this will be fifth term as CM.
(Punjab jinx for parties ends with Akalis, they return to power) The BJP has won 21 seats in the 40-seat Goa Assembly; the ruling Congress and NCP combine could manage just nine.
It was largely a bad day for national parties Congress and BJP. Both admit that introspection is called for. Both say that the results are worse for the other. These Assembly elections were being keenly watched for the new political alignments that they would throw up, which could also affect equations at the Centre. A decisive verdict in UP meant that those equations would not change for a while. The Samajwadi Party offers outside support to the UPA government at the Centre.