India’s ruling nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won regional votes in three of four major states on Sunday, a major boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of national elections due in May.
The central states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and the southern state of Telangana voted last month in the last provincial elections ahead of the national vote in which Modi will seek a third term.
The BJP comfortably won Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the main opposition Congress and retained Madhya Pradesh, vote counting data from the Independent Election Panel showed.
The BJP’s performance was better than widely expected as opinion polls and opinion polls suggested a close fight between Modi’s party and the Congress.
Modi remains very popular after ten years in power and polls suggest he will win again next year. However, the opposition alliance of 28 parties led by the Congress has come together to fight the BJP together, posing a new challenge.
However, the alliance did not feature in the state polls due to internal rivalry and it was a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress.
Although the Congress won Telangana, its second victory in the south this year, Sunday’s result is considered a setback. The four states are home to more than 160 million voters and hold 82 seats in the 543-member parliament.
“We have always said we will win heartland states,” BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda told Reuters. “The results are the result of our best policy strategy and work on the ground.”
BJP members and supporters burst firecrackers, distributed sweets and danced on the streets in the three states.
Modi told jubilant BJP members at party headquarters that the results indicated a third term next year was assured.
Congress disappointed
The BJP itself suffered a setback when it lost the large southern state of Karnataka to the Congress this year as Gandhi worked hard to revive the party since its debacle in the 2019 elections and embarked on a 135-day march across the country involving more than 4,000 people. km (2500 miles).
He also helped build an opposition alliance, called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, following his victory in Karnataka and his temporary suspension from parliament after being convicted in a defamation case.
Politicians and analysts say state elections do not always influence the outcome of general elections or accurately reflect the mood of the national electorate.
The results of the last round of provincial elections before the national elections have been misleading in the past.
