By Abhishek Pandey

Speculations are over with the counting of votes. People of India have given the clear mandate for the stable government at the center by saying no to hung parliament. Indian National Congress (INC) has emerged as the largest single party. Congress has come back to power at center with the startling victory on 206 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

After people’s verdict, many political and poll analyst dropped their jaws and their eyes widened to see the caricature of the next government drawn by the electorates. Even, Congress party men and spoke person were not anticipating the victory on 206 seats by their party on its own. Congress has helped UPA to touch the tally of 262 seats and is very near to the magic number of 272 needed to form the government. This is the congress’s notable performance in last two decades since 1989.

BJP lost the elections in many states, even in its strongholds. BJP is limited to 116 seats in this General Election, which is less than its 2004 performance, 138 seats. BJP performed badly in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, and Uttarakhand. Right wing Party has gained little in Bihar, Karnataka and Gujarat, where they wee expecting a clean sweep. Though, its ally in Bihar, Janta Dal (United), has done a very good job by winning 20 seats out of 40 seats.

Not only BJP but its allies also performed poorly in many states except JD (U). Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) decreased from 8 to 4 seats. In Punjab, ‘weak prime minister’ tag to Manmohan Singh cost dearly to BJP and its ally SAD in Sikh dominated Punjab. Contradicting BJP’s view about a Sikh prime ministerial candidate Manmohan Singh, Indian National Congress secretary general Rahul Gandhi coined a term ‘Sher-e-Punjab’ for him which possibly swung the votes in the favour of the party in the state.

In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and BJP alliance came down from 25 seats in 2004 to 20 seats in 2009. Metropolitan cities Mumbai and Delhi was swept by Congress party, despite BJP’s strong Internet campaigning. BJP’s campaigning on the Internet to do ‘Obama’ in India was a failure because Internet penetration in India is just 5%. BJP did not think that most netizens would not go to vote in the scorching heat of April-May.

This is the victory of Rahul Gandhi. Aam Aadmi has accepted Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and possibly, Manmohan Singh as their leaders. BJP’s poll plank and the tag ‘weak PM’ gifted to Manmohan Singh proved to be a disaster for the party. Negative campaigning backfired BJP badly in the elections. They talked more about terrorism, failures of UPA government; black money in Swiss banks, Bofforse scam and Ram Temple instead of any development plans in the future. But nothing worked for them and party seemed to be confused on its agenda. Electorate also could not understand that what BJP would do for them after coming to power.

Youth factor of Rahul Gandhi worked for Congress in this lection. Rahul Gandhi’s canvassing in slums, villages and in tribal areas brought fruits for the grand old party. His canvassing and ability to mix up with the youths in the universities campuses and in his rallies worked well. Uttar Pradesh, which has given six prime ministers to the country, is known for caste based politics. But voters voted for congress and it shattered Mayawati’s dream to become the prime minister of the country. Dalits, who constituted approx 23% of the state population, get attracted in large numbers to the Congress. It seems that they have also fed up by seeing Mayawati’s statue and memorials on almost every cross-road and park.

Mayawati was expecting a big swell in her seat share in the state but congress maimed her party by attracting Muslims and Dalits to its court. Not going with Samajwadi party in the election helped Congress to increase its seat share from 9 in 2004 to 21 seats in 2009. Samajwadi party (SP), Rastriya Janta Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) repented for not going with Congress in the last general elections. Congress wave across the nation crushed the ambitions of many parties.

It was the wrong notion among the political intellects that Narendra Modi can swing votes any where in the country with his unbeatable vibrant Gujarat dream for every state. Actually, Narendra Modi’s charisma did not work in any pocket of the country. In Bihar, where he did not campaign because JD (U) did not want to annoy its Muslim voters, BJP and JD (U) performed well by winning 32 seats in comparison to 11 seats in 2004 elections. Modi proved to be ineffective in cowbelt also. Varun Gandhi, a new Hindutava face of the right wing party did not do any benefit to the saffron party, not even in Uttar Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh was also hopeless for the BJP and party’s number dwindled from 25 seats in 2004 to 16 seats in 2009. They did not get the expected gain in Karnataka and Gujarat and gained marginally by one seat and touched the tally of 19 seats and 16 seats respectively. BJP got worst news from Rajasthan and came down to 4 seats from its 21 seats’ tally in 2004. Congress swept Uttarakhand by winning all the five states, where BJP is ruling in the state.

Congress and UPA have significantly improved their performance in many states. Congress have challenged the regional parties like Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Telgu Desham Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and Left parties in their strongholds. Congress with its allies has done a good job in West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Punjab, J&K and Maharashtra. Kerala and West Bengal results have threatened the red brigade. Trinmool congress (TC) won 19 seats in west Bengal. Congress restrained Left parties to a low score of 4 seats in Kerala.

Left parties and BJP conceded its victory and stated that they failed to convey their message to the electorates effectively. This election has brought many changes for many parties. LK Advani has been rejected as the prime minister of the country. BJP has to think about the acceptable candidate for the higher post in the party. Since, Advani is not in the mood to lead the party anymore. It is the right time for senior BJP leaders to replace him and choose someone else as the opposition leader of the party in the lower house. Left should also think about their stand on economical and development issues, which cause their defeat in their strongholds.

The election has also given a message to the next government that the people of India have shown their faith in stability by not giving fractured mandate.
It is still uncertain that did they vote for the dynasty or for development?