India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party is headed for a clear win in three out of four state elections, according to the election commission’s website.
The crucial poll has pitted India’s opposition against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the vital national vote, scheduled in less than six months.
Ballot counting on Sunday showed the BJP was poised to wrest control of the heartland states of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the Indian National Congress, India’s main opposition party.
The right-wing party was also likely to be re-elected in Madhya Pradesh for a record fifth term.
The Congress was comfortably leading in Telangana state which is ruled by the strong Bharat Rashtra Samithi party, formerly known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
Final results are expected later on Sunday.
Elections in the five states were held last month and more than 160 million people, or a sixth of India’s electorate, were eligible to vote. Polling in India is generally done in phases owing to the large population.
Vote counting in a fifth state, Mizoram, is set for Monday where BJP’s regional ally, the Mizo National Front, is in power.
‘Historic and unprecedented’
The election results of the five states are expected to indicate voter mood ahead of the national elections in May in which Modi is eyeing a third consecutive term.
At the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Sunday evening, party members and supporters lined up on the two sides and Modi walked between them, waving. The activists showered him with flower petals, chanting “Long live Mother India” and other slogans.
Later, Modi in a speech said the results were “historic and unprecedented” and “a victory for honesty, transparency and good governance”.
New opposition alliance
Modi and his BJP remain popular on a national level after nearly a decade in power and surveys suggest he is expected to win a third term.
However, a new alliance of 28 opposition parties, called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or INDIA, is set to challenge the BJP nationally. It is led by the the Congress.
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader, conceded defeat in the three states where his party was trailing.
“The battle of ideology will continue,” he wrote on X, and thanked the people of Telangana where his party was winning.
The charged-up voting campaigns witnessed both leaders promising voters subsidies, loan waivers and employment guarantees.
The elections come at a time when India is facing multiple challenges – rising unemployment, attacks and “hate speech” by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media.
Although Congress won Telangana, its second victory in the south this year, Sunday’s outcome is seen as a setback to the party and its leader, Gandhi, as it was wiped out of the politically critical heartland.
“We always said we will win the heartland states,” BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda said. “The results are the outcome of our finest political strategy and work on the ground.” (AlJazeera)
