Assembly election results 2016: Boost for BJP, wake-up call for Congress
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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main national opponents lost control of two states on Thursday, diluting their ability to thwart legislation that’s key to his reform agenda.
The once-mighty Congress lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, ending its 15-year rule in the northeastern state. The Gandhi dynasty’s political organization also dropped Kerala and was only ahead in Puducherry.
The results of the assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were as good as Modi could hope for: his party only had a real shot of winning in Assam, reflecting its struggles to expand outside of Hindi-speaking areas.
Two non-aligned regional power brokers—Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and AIADMK’s J. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu—were both poised to hold on to power.
Still, the Congress’s losses are good for Modi: they will reduce its ability to block his reform measures in the upper house of parliament, where members are determined by state election results. While the body’s composition won’t change immediately because current members need to serve out fixed terms, the long-term trend favours Modi.
After Thursday’s results, the Congress will control outright just six of India’s 29 states, down from 15 in 2013. Modi’s party would hold power in 10 states, with regional parties and unwieldy coalitions leading the rest.
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