Mandate against party-hopping
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 17, 2024 -

WHILE the people in violence-ravaged northeastern Indian state of Manipur were, as usual, struggling to piece together their broken lives and homes as they have been doing so for the last 14 months and those in the rest of the country were riveted on the big fat Indian wedding of Anant Ambani, the son of Mukesh Ambani, who is the world's ninth-richest man and the richest person in Asia; everyone seems to have missed out on one of the most significant moments in the political churning that has been taking place in India since the recent election to the 18th Lok Sabha.

When the Election Commission announced results of the by-elections conducted in 13 assembly seats across seven states on July 10,.the Opposition alliance, INDIA bloc emerged as a major gainer by winning 10 seats while the ruling party, BJP could garner just two seats and the remaining one was bagged by an independent candidate.

Among the INDIA bloc partners, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) won all four seats in West Bengal, Indian National Congress (INC) also won four seats - two each in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured the lone seat in Punjab.

On the other hand, BjP just managed to bag one seat each in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and the Rupauli seat in Bihar went to an independent candidate. Considering that of the 13 assembly seats which went to by-polls, BJP, INC and TMC had held two seats each, while one seat each was held by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Janata Dal (United), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Independents held the remaining three seats, one may argue that the BJP has still managed to retain its two seats.

But the good showing of the INDIA bloc partners in the by-polls, which are seen as a test of popularity for the opposition alliance against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the first electoral battle after the recent Lok Sabha elections is something that could not be overlooked.

Most importantly, results of the by-elections, which were necessitated following vacancies of assembly seats created either due to passing away of incumbent MLAs or resignations of sitting MLAs from different parties who went on to join BjP, have shown that people are not happy with their elected representatives switching political parties during election time out of avarice to get tickets with least regard for political ethics.

Except for the Amarwara assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh, where the MLA defected from INC won the bypoll on the BjP ticket mainly due to continued poor running of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, BjP suffered defeat in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand where it fielded candidates who had defected from other political parties.

Of the two seats each INC has won in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, three were those where the party had suffered defection of its sitting MLAs to BjP. INC also avenged the defection of its MLA by retaining the Badrinath seat in the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand while wresting the Manglaur seat from BSP.

In Punjab's Jalandhar West, AAP took revenge on its MLA who defected to BJP, when its nominee emerged victorious.

The story is same in West Bengal where TMC cemented its supremacy by wresting not only the Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda seats from BJP but also by retaining the Maniktala seat, where bypoll was conducted following demise of its sitting MLA.

Thus, one can safely conclude that while the opposition alliance, INDIA bloc has undoubtedly passed the test of popularity against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with flying colours in the first ever electoral battle held after the recent Lok Sabha elections, results of the by-polls conducted in 13 assembly seats across seven states of the country have shown that the BJP's political strategy of luring away opposition MLAs is not going to work wonder anymore as people have become fed up of the politics of 'Aaya Ram Gaya Ram'.