New Delhi, Dec 3 (EFE).- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reinforced its position ahead of next year’s general elections in India, winning three of the four regional legislative elections whose results were announced Sunday.
According to the preliminary results, the BJP managed to maintain power in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and overthrew its main rival, the grand old Congress Party (INC) from Rajasthan (northwest) and Chhattisgarh (east).
These results are from a series of five elections held in the past month, including the northeastern state of Mizoram, whose outcome is to be announced Monday.
Data from the Electoral Commission showed that the BJP won a majority of the 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, a region in which it was defeated in the last regional elections in 2018, but managed to come to power March 2020 as a result of a political crisis in the then-ruling INC-led government.
The contest was somewhat tighter in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, both states controlled by the Congress Party since the last elections, but this time the BJP emerged victorious in both states.
“The results in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan indicate that the people of India are firmly with politics of good governance and development, which the @BJP4India stands for,” Modi posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
INC had some consolation in its victory in the southern state of Telangana where it defeated the regional Bharat Rashtra Samithi party with an overwhelming majority.
INC chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on X that his party’s performance was disappointing in the three states in which it was defeated, and resolved to prepare for the forthcoming general elections.
The latest results present a clearer picture of India’s political landscape ahead of the general elections, expected to be held between April and May 2024.
Modi, who won the last two general elections held in 2014 and 2019, starts as the big favorite to win a third consecutive term.
The BJP or its allies are currently in power in more than half of India’s states.
Ahead of the next general elections, 24 opposition parties, including the INC, are preparing a joint front to topple the Modi-led group from power. EFE
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