Will BJP's Haryana win loom over Maharashtra and Jharkhand?

Tight contests are expected in both the states and it may not be an easy walkover for any alliance

- ALI CHOUGULE

Just weeks after the elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand next month will once again witness another round of intense political battle between two main alliances—NDA and I.N.D.I.A. The two Assembly elections, besides by-polls in three Lok Sabha constituencies and 48 Assembly segments across several states, will test the mettle of the BJP and the Congress and their respective regional alliance parties.

The outcome of the Assembly election in Haryana, where the BJP won an unexpected victory while the Congress also improved its vote share and seat tally over its 2019 performance, increases the importance of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls for NDA and I.N.D.I.A.

Perceptibly, the BJP's confidence-boosting victory in Haryana, despite the odds of two-term anti-incumbency and internal challenges, has not only redefined the electoral narrative for the BJP, it has also made it imperative for the I.N.D.I.A bloc to perform well in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

For months since the Lok Sabha election results, the consensus among political observers was that the BJP's electoral dominance was waning—more so because it failed to meet its 400-seat target, did not get the Parliamentary majority on its own and had to rely on allies like the TDP and JD(U) to form the government at the Centre.

There are no two views that the BJP's popularity has come down after a decade in power at the Centre and in many states. The pull that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's persona had on voters is also believed to be ebbing—he did not campaign aggressively in both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir like the way he has often done in state elections over the past decade.