Interpreting results
Needless to say, these elections have
important implications for Indian
politics. What conclusions can we
draw?
1.
Indians remain committed to
electoral politics. In spite of
corruption
scandals,
economic
slowdown, and rising prices, citizens
retain
faith
in
electoral
democracy. This is reflected in high
13
Elections in Delhi saw the rise of an
anti-corruption party, the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind
Kejriwal,
a
former
central
government bureaucrat. In spite of
falling out with his anti-corruption
mentor, Anna Hazare, Kejriwal has
retained the halo of plain-speaking
anti-corruption crusader. In the 70
member Delhi Legislative Assembly,
the BJP and its allies have secured 32
seats while the AAP secured 28
seats. The Congress party was routed
with only 8 seats; even the Chief
Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, lost
to Arvind Kejriwal in her pocket
borough constituency.
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won thumping majorities in Madhya
Pradesh
(165/230),
Rajasthan
(162/199) and a comfortable majority
in Chhattisgarh (49/90). Of the four
states, the BJP was in power in
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,
while Congress was in power in
Rajasthan and Delhi. Because the
Indian electorate tends to vote out the
incumbent, both political parties were
vulnerable to anti-incumbency. BJP‘s
victories in Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh are therefore all the
more remarkable because both defied
anti-incumbency.