WEB DESK
Most of the exit polls today predicted a Congress win in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and forecast a close finish in Madhya Pradesh. In Telangana, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s decision to call for snap polls may help the TRS clinch victory, while one survey has predicted a Congress win in that state too.
In the 200-seat Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress is hoping to capitalise on a perceived wave of anti-incumbency against Vasundhara Raje. The state saw several heated campaign speeches, including ones where PM Narendra Modi took on Nehru and Indira Gandhi and by Yogi Adityanath in which he had called Lord Hanuman a Dalit. In 2013, the BJP had won 163 seats, Congress had won 21, the BSP three and others 13.
In Telangana, which went into snap polls after K Chandrashekar Rao decided to dissolve the Assembly, the Congress is trying to unseat Rao’s TRS while the BJP is hoping to make inroads in the southern state. In 2016, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti had won 63 seats, Congress had won 21, TDP 15, BJP five and Others 15 in the 119-seat Assembly. The Congress has stitched together “Praja Kutami” (People’s Front) along with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) to take on the ruling TRS, which is seeking a second term in office. The TRS is going it alone in the polls, so is the BJP.
In Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is eyeing a fourth term. The state saw pitched campaigns in several constituencies, including Yogi Adityananth’s ‘Ali vs Bajrangbali’ statement which triggered a severe war of words. In the 23-seat Assembly in 2013, the BJP had won a whopping 165 seats, while the Congress got 58. The BSP had managed four seats and Independents won the rest.
In Mizoram, the Congress is trying to hold on to its last citadel in Northeast, while the BJP is trying to conquer the final frontier. In 2013, the 40-seat Assembly had seen the Congress win 34 seats, while the MNF won five.