- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
It is said that the results of the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram due on December 3 will be a precursor to next year’s general elections.
By: Shubham Ghosh
RESULTS of elections held in five Indian states in November will be announced on Sunday (3) and if exit polls are to be believed, the country’s main opposition Indian National Congress led by Rahul Gandhi is likely to clinch two of the states while throwing challenge at prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in two others, both located in the Hindi heartland, considered happy hunting grounds for the ruling party.
The five elections, which took place in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, are seen as the mega ‘semi-final’ ahead of next year’s ‘final’ — the general elections. While Modi and his party are confident to win their third consecutive mandate after 2014 and 2019, the Congress is also desperate to reverse its poor electoral fate in the times of Modi.
The BJP lost the states of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and would not like to lose more to the Congress and give it a necessary boost.
Exit polls were revealed by various Indian television channels on Thursday (30), the final day of the elections when the southern state of Telangana went to polls. Only Chhattisgarh, a state which has a history of ultra-left disturbance, saw two phases of polling.
More than 160 million people, or about one-sixth of India’s total number of voters, were eligible to cast their ballots in these elections that kicked off on November 7.
Three of the five states have seen a tough battle between the BJP and the Congress. The saffron party is in power in only one of these states — Madhya Pradesh — while the Congress is in two — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Telangana and Mizoram are ruled by two regional parties, one of which is a part of the BJP’s alliance in north-east India but has a troubled relation with Modi’s party.
At least nine exit polls predicted the Congress winning the two states of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, a state which was formed a decade ago. Some said the BJP was set to defeat the ruling Congress in Rajasthan.
Predictions from Madhya Pradesh were mixed while Mizoram was likely to go to a regional party again.
Exit polls are carried out by various private bodies to predict election outcomes but they are not foolproof as many times in the past, the actual results were found to be different from what the exit polls said. According to critics, exit polls in India tend to be imperfect partly because of the size and complexity of the electorate.
Also, experts on Indian electoral politics say that the outcome of state elections do not always influence the results of the national ones as the issues and leadership are different for both.
