Ruling Congress loses heavily to opposition BJP: India poll outcome-II

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL

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The results of the 2014 general elections in India, described as the world's biggest democratic exercise, have been most unexpected, most surprising even for the winning parties..  

India's general elections have come to an end with results showing a comfortable win for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) championing Hindutva politics.

The politicians concentrated on Uttar Pradesh with the largest number of seats    national. Any party winning most of seats could ensure a national win. But  the people of the UP state preferred the BJP which  had a grand strategy to influence the people and get their votes.

The ruling Congress candidates for all seats and got only two seats, both won by Nehru family, Sonia Gandhi in Raibarelli and Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. Despite her party being routed nationally, the Congress president retained her Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Mrs Gandhi's and Rahul Gandhi’s win are likely to be among the few bright moments for her party in the elections. Rahul Gandhi, Congress vice-president who has been the face of his party's campaign and won the seat in 2004 and 2009 with huge margins, secured victory against the BJP's Smriti Irani and the AAP's Kumar Vishwas - but with a narrower lead. He failed to inspire India's voters but he did manage to hold the Gandhi-Nehru stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. 

A minister in the outgoing government, the Congress leader Kapil Sibal lost his Chandni Chowk seat to the BJP's Harsh Vardhan. The AAP's Ashutosh came second, leaving Sibal in the third spot.

BJP won most of the seats in UP as well as in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, among others. . Most of the central ministers have lost to BJP, including Salman Khurshid, the external affairs minister, Farooq Abdullah, Gulam Nabi Azad, nuclear  agent  Narayana Swamy (Pondicherry) . 2 spectrum Raja, among others  Farooq Abdullah , former JK chief minister and the leader of the regional National Conference lost in Srinagar in Indian-occupied Kashmir.Abdullah was a federal minister and alliance partner of the Congress party.

Several leaders of the ruling/outgoing Congress party led UPA coalition have lost. Many of its top leaders, including prime ministerial candidate of the BJP Narendra Modi, have won their seats. Modi has won the constituency of Vadodara in the western state of Gujarat and also from Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. India's election law allows politicians to stand in two seats, but Modi will now have to relinquish one of them.

Varanasi was one of the most talked-about constituencies because of the presence of Modi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal. LK Advani, a founding member of the BJP and former deputy PM, held Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The veteran leader first won the seat in 1991 but later shifted to New Delhi. This time he was scared of contesting form Indian capital and chose a safe seat in BJP ruled Gujarat. The BJP president Rajnath Singh won Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The seat has a symbolic value for the party because it sent former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to parliament five times between 1991 and 2004.

Modi has shown to Kejriwal that he is no match for him with vast experience in political gimmicks. Nor the vast resources of BJP-RSS-Modi-cooperates can match the poor man’s AAP which exists only on  small grants form members and well wishers. .Obviously, it was not money that  made Kejriwal the CM of Delhi state.

The AAP founding leader and ex-chief minister Arvind Kejriwal lost his debut parliamentary election against Modi in Varanasi. He had pledged to fight against Modi even before polling dates were announced. Kejriwal and his party will now look to assess their strategy after a humbling defeat in their first general election in Delhi and other states, except in Punjab where they won 4 big seats to represent common people in parliament. .

Faulty decision and weak  polices have not allowed AAP to win as many seats as it should have and people are frustrated with poor tactics and  performance of AAP.

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, Educationist; Prolific writer; Chancellor-Founder of Centor for International Affairs(CIA); Independent Analyst-Commentator-Columnist;Chronicler of Foreign occupations & Freedom movements(Palestine,Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Xinjiang, Chechnya, etc.) Former university Teacher; website: abdulruff. wordpress.com/ abdulruff_jnu@ yahoo.com.

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