After a two-month-long poll campaign, the results of the Assembly elections to five states — Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa — were declared Thursday.
The BJP won in four of the five States, while the AAP won Punjab. With AAP making history in Punjab, is this the dawn of Arvind Kejriwal as a national leader? What does this win mean for BJP? And, has the Congress self-destructed? These are the hot topics in discussion.
Many say that despite criticism of rights violation, the UP government was able to successfully project its crackdown on the mafia and the killing of criminals in police encounters as a sign of better law and order. In poll rallies, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have claimed a sharp drop in crimes such as murders, kidnapping and rapes over the past five years. This was a major reason for their success in UP, say their leaders.
The outcome of the Punjab election stands out as it records several landmarks in Indian political history – for the first time a regional party is making a spectacular victory in its second, ‘non-home’ State in the country. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s emergence in Punjab with a splendid performance is going to create ripples which could lead to realignment at the national politics too.