People's Democracy

On Assembly  Election Results

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on December 8, 2008

THE assembly elections in the five states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram have produced a mixed result. In the four states where the main contest was between the BJP and the Congress, the BJP has suffered a setback. The BJP had been ruling in the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and it has lost the Rajasthan assembly elections and failed to wrest Delhi from the Congress. In Mizoram, the Congress was able to achieve decisive victory with the people voting out the ruling MNF.

The Congress has retained Delhi and emerged as the largest single party in Rajasthan, in a position to form a government.

The results of the elections show that the people have voted mainly on the basis of the states� political situation and the performance of the government there. The BJP won the elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with a reduced margin of seats and percentage of votes. The Congress was unable to cash-in on the discontent against the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The discontent of the people against both the BJP and the Congress is evident. Whether it be price rise, agrarian crisis, unemployment or lack of basic services, both parties have been unable to tackle them effectively. It is also clear that the BJP�s efforts to exploit the Mumbai terrorist attack have not found support from the people.

It is significant that non-Congress, non-BJP parties have garnered a better percentage of votes in these four states which have had a bipolar polity so far. This opens up the scope for a third force to emerge in these states in the future.