This year is going to be very important from the political point of view in India. This year elections are to be held in a total of 10 states in the country. Elections will be held in the three northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland between February and March. While the process of assembly elections in Karnataka state of South India will be completed in April-May. Assembly elections will also be held in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana later this year. Elections can also be held in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir this year. Currently BJP is in government in Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and Karnataka while BJP is in government in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram with NDA allies. Congress has only Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Telangana is governed by the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi. Elections have not yet been held in Jammu and Kashmir after becoming a Union Territory.
Madhya Pradesh
At present, there is a BJP government in Madhya Pradesh under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. No party got a majority in the 2018 assembly elections. After the election, the Congress, which won 114 seats in the 230-seat assembly, formed the government with the support of independents and the BSP and SP. With this, Congress has come to power here for the first time after 1998. However, after a year and a half there was a rebellion in the Congress. In March 2020, a total of 22 MLAs, including supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the BJP, leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath government. Then the BJP came to power and Shivraj Singh Chouhan became the Chief Minister once again. The BJP won 18 seats in the by-elections held on a total of 28 seats here and once again won the majority in the assembly. The next assembly elections in the state will be held in November-December. While the challenge will be to improve the performance against the BJP, the main opposition Congress will try to return to the government.
Rajasthan Rajasthan
For the last three decades, there has been a change of power in Rajasthan every five years. In the 2018 elections, the main opposition Congress returned to power after five years. Ashok Gehlot once again became the Chief Minister of the state. However, the government could never be stable due to the rebellion of its own people. In July and August 2020, a rebellion by the Pilot group led to a vote of no confidence in the Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government. Due to the coup, many MLAs including Pilot had to lose their posts. Suddenly the situation changed and after persuasion by the Congress high command, the attitude of the Pilot group became loose. The government then won the trust vote in the Rajasthan Assembly by a voice vote.
Assembly elections are due in the state later this year. It is still not clear on whose face the Congress will contest the elections this time. In addition, the party will face the challenge of controlling the anti-incumbency wave. On the other hand, BJP is hopeful of returning to power here.
Tripura
The BJP had won the 2018 Tripura Assembly elections. The BJP defeated the Left parties which ruled here for 25 years and Biplab Deb became the Chief Minister of the state. In May this year, the BJP had handed over the power of the state to Jah Manik Shah in place of Deb. Now Shah will have the responsibility of bringing BJP back to power. However, even before the announcement of the elections, the political temperature has started rising in the state. BJP leader Hungsha Kumar Tripura along with 6,000 of his tribal supporters joined Tipra Motha in August this year. On the other hand, Adivasi Adhikar Party is trying to form an anti-BJP political front. Also, many leaders are changing parties.
Meghalaya
In 2018, the National People’s Party (NPP) and the BJP formed a coalition government in the state. Congress emerged as the single largest party. However, the Congress was far short of the majority mark. On the other hand, NPP and BJP contested separately and formed an alliance. Konrad Sangma of NPP became the Chief Minister. Political upheaval is also being seen here before the elections. There is also a dispute between the NPP and the BJP running the coalition government. Recently two MLAs resigned from NPP and joined BJP.
Nagaland
Ahead of the 2018 assembly elections, the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) split into two. Later, Neiphiu Rio, a senior party leader and chief minister of the state, joined the rebel faction. After this incident, the rebels formed the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). That’s why NPF broke the alliance with BJP before the elections. The BJP and the NDPPA contested the elections together. In Nagaland, NDPP won 18 seats and BJP 12. The coalition came to power and Neiphiu Rio became the chief minister. Most of the NPF MLAs who won 27 seats joined the NDPP after nephew Rio became chief minister, bringing the number of NDPP legislators to 42. When only 4 MLAs were left in NPF. Later the NPF also supported the ruling coalition. At present, all the 60 MLAs of the state assembly are in the ruling party.
Karnataka
In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP won 104 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka assembly. Despite being the largest party, BJP has stayed away from power. Meanwhile, the JDS and the Congress formed the government here in alliance after the elections, however, the Kumaraswamy government fell later with the resignation of Congress and JDS MLAs. Here also the MLAs kept going to BJP and for this reason BJP formed the government under the leadership of BS Yeddyurappa. Yeddyurappa resigned as Chief Minister on 26 July 2021, the second anniversary of his fourth term, Basavaraj Bomai became the Chief Minister on 28 July 2021. Elections are to be held in the state in April-May.
Chattisgarh
The Congress had regained power in 2018 by winning 68 out of 90 seats in the state after 15 years. While under the leadership of Raman Singh, BJP got only 15 seats. Here Congress has made Bhupesh Baghel the Chief Minister of the state. BJP has lost in five by-elections held here since 2018. The BJP was defeated in the recently held Bhanupratappur assembly by-election. Earlier Congress had also won in Dantewada, Chitrakot, Marwahi and Khairagarh.
Mizoram
In Mizoram, the Mizo National Front (MNF) won 26 out of 40 seats in the 2018 assembly elections, while the Congress managed to win only 5 seats. The BJP opened its account for the first time in the state. This time also BJP and MNF are claiming a bigger victory than now. On the other hand, the Congress party is struggling to keep its own party united.
Telangana
In the 2018 assembly elections, the Bharat Telangana Rashtra Samithi (earlier name – Telangana Rashtra Samithi) under the leadership of Chandrasekhar Rao registered a landslide victory by securing 87 out of 119 seats. Congress got 19 seats in this election. So TDP got only two seats, BJP got only one seat. Many big leaders of the state have joined BJP from other parties including Congress, TDP. BJP is trying to fight the 2023 elections by making TRS the main party. Many BJP leaders including BJP President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah are making frequent election tours here.
Jammu and Kashmir
After the removal of Article-370, the delimitation work for the state assembly has been completed. The Election Commission can conduct elections in the state this year itself. J&K BJP in-charge Tarun Chugh recently called upon party members to reach out to the people of the state. BJP has also started preparing for the elections. There are also reports of visits by party President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next three months. The opposition is also working hard to contest the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. On 5 December, Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was re-elected as the head of the National Conference. At the same time, the new Democratic Azad Party of former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad can also play an important role in this election.
