DC Edit | Shock Exit of Didi & Stalin To Impact National Politics

While the results of the elections to the four state Assemblies and Union Territories were shocking for the ruling parties in the three major states, the ruling party in the fourth and UT came back with a widening margin. This is likely to affect national politics in ways no state election results have ever done.

For the first time in its history, West Bengal has chosen to try the saffron policy. For the last six decades, the state has elected the Congress, the Communists and the Trinamul Congress in that order, and this time it has chosen the BJP. This is the culmination of the BJP’s efforts over the years to attack the West Bengal bastion. Masterful planning and flawless execution have been at the heart of the BJP’s strategy in all elections, and West Bengal was no different. This time they bore fruit.

However, it should be noted that nearly 27 lakh voters in the state were denied their constitutional right to vote in the elections through no fault of their own. The Election Commission deleted their names from the electoral rolls due to “logical inconsistencies”, a term that even the Supreme Court of India had difficulty digesting. The mechanism prepared by the Election Commission to address their grievances failed to do its job on time and effectively prevented them from having a say in democratic governance. Even the Supreme Court, which did its best to help the EC out of the mess it had created, refused to come to their aid. The moral deficiency caused by these collective actions will weigh on the consequences in the state.

The surprise element in these elections is the arrival of actor-politician Vijay and his nascent Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) on the political scene of Tamil Nadu, capturing power in the first go. The ruling DMK was on the receiving end of a double whammy as its president and prime minister MK Stalin lost his own seat, a traditional party stronghold. Mr. Vijay’s achievement is unprecedented in the political history of not only the state but also the country. Mr. Vijay, a man with no political or administrative experience, will have to learn on the job how to direct the destinies of more than seven crore people.

The Left Democratic Front in Kerala suffered its worst defeat in its history when it was thrown out of power after successive victories in 2016 and 2021: The alliance, which won 99 out of 140 seats last time, was limited to 35, while the Congress-led United Democratic Front won 102 seats, reaching a triple-digit tally. This was also a shocking defeat for the LDF, which had hoped to return home thanks to the development and welfare measures it had implemented in the last 10 years. It will now be up to the Congress to fulfill the promises it made to the people as the leader of the alliance. While the BJP made a clean sweep of the Assam elections, the NDA won another consecutive term by securing a comfortable majority in Puducherry.

The elections ousted three chief ministers who were the vanguard of the national Opposition and bulwark against the Hindutva politics led by the BJP: Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan. They were all part of the INDIA alliance that proved its collective strength in the Lok Sabha recently. While Ms. Banerjee will be replaced by a BJP candidate, Mr. Stalin’s replacement is yet to make his approach public. The new Kerala chief minister, who is a Congress candidate, does not change the equation. THE INDIA alliance will have to restructure its own politics if it wants to remain relevant in Indian politics.