The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears set to win four out of the five State Assemblies that went to polls, with the Congress retaining the smallest State, Mizoram, if exit poll projections are anything to go by.
The counting will take place on December 8 and in Mizoram on the following day.
The exit polls, by and large, predict a win for the saffron party in four (Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh) out of the five States. However, it is a close call in Chhattisgarh and Delhi with the BJP having a slender lead over the Congress.
In Delhi, which recorded the highest turnout so far, the Arvind Kejriwal-led debutant Aam Aadmi Party’s high-voltage campaign through the year is said to have played the spoilsport by pushing down the incumbent Congress, which is hoping for the fourth straight win. Some exit polls have even predicted a hung House in Delhi.
The Assembly elections to these five States, termed as the ‘semi-finals’ to the Lok Sabha elections due in 2014, are also being seen as a ‘referendum’ on the ‘Modi effect’ (the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi) and the leadership of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. These elections are crucial for the big parties — the Congress and the BJP — as it is a direct fight in these four States. The ability to attract allies ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year will be based on the show of strength of these parties in these States. The results are also likely to stir organisational debates. If Shivraj Singh Chouhan manages an impressive third term in Madhya Pradesh, detractors of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi could project him (Chouhan) as an alternative. While the exit polls predict a clear win for the BJP in two big States — Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — it is a close call between that party and the Congress in Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, the National Capital, which was the last to go to polls on Wednesday, saw a record turnout of over 65 per cent, beating the highest 61.75 per cent turnout in 1993, when the State first went to polls. In 2008, the turnout was 57.58 per cent.
There were people waiting to cast their votes in some places in Delhi long after polling time ended. Vijay Dev, Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, said at a press conference that “it was an incident-free and high turnout, breaking previous records.”
Call it the ‘AAP factor’ or the ‘Modi effect’, voters in Delhi seem to have been shaken out of their apathy though the voting percentage in the Capital is still way behind that in the other four States that went to polls.