Waiting for the election verdict

In Maharashtra, the assembly elections are a battle of parties for office and political legacies

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The outcome of the summer's general election surprised many when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to gain a simple majority. Though reduced to 240 seats, the party, together with its pre-poll allies, had enough Members of Parliament to form the government. The big question, thereafter, has been if the general election outcome suggested a change of tide against the BJP and, if the Opposition can sustain the momentum in the states where assembly elections were due. Elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in October, however, revealed the resilience of the BJP in the face of political adversity. In Haryana, it retained office; it failed to win power in J&K in the first election after the abrogation of Article 370 but performed creditably in the Jammu part of the Union territory. In both states, the Congress was the loser. The results saw questions about the party's ability to win elections resurface. The results of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls will part-answer these.