Weekly political wrap
Last week saw results of assembly elections in 4 states
New Delhi: This week saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gain a historic win in the state of Assam. The Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal and the J Jayalalitha led AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu were elected for a second term. The left front saw a mixed bag after a historic win in Kerala but their worst performance in West Bengal. The Congress lost two key states – Assam and Kerala but saw a win in the union territory of Puducherry.
Saffron spreads, Congress shrinks
The biggest takeaway from the outcome of the just-concluded round of assembly polls is not the ability of two regional satraps, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and J. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, to fend off anti-incumbency (the former in style and the latter after a minor scare), neither was it the ability of the Left to fashion a win in Kerala. Instead it is the audacious win scripted by the BJP in Assam and its very impressive showing in Kerala and West Bengal (not in terms of seats as much as vote share). Read more
Assam election results: BJP scripts history, sets sights on north-east
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created history in Assam on Thursday, ending the Congress’s 15-year rule with a decisive mandate that vaulted it to power in the state for the first time. The victory in Assam also means the BJP will get to play a decisive role in the politics of the tumultuous northeastern region, where it has until now been a marginal political force. BJP and its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) won a combined 86 seats in the 126-member Assam assembly. On its own, the BJP won 60 seats, the AGP 14 and the BPF 12 seats. Read more
Assembly elections results strengthen Modi, Shah hold on BJP. The party’s rise in newer regions, along with the steady weakening of the Congress, will also impact national politics. Read more
West Bengal results: TMC triumph decimates Left, Congress
Mamata Banerjee fought the election on her own, confident in the belief that after five years in power she knew what West Bengal’s voters wanted. On Thursday, she was proved right, recording her biggest electoral victory in four decades as a politician. With a substantial gain in vote share in the 2016 assembly election, the chief minister of West Bengal has established that her politics of redistribution and largesse give her an unassailable strength, with which she can overcome even her own party’s shortcomings. Read more
Left routed in West Bengal assembly elections, triumphant in Kerala. Mixed outcome in the assembly elections will mean that Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of CPM will stop short of declaring victory. Read more
Kerala results: LDF engineers a revival, BJP marks its presence
The Left Democratic Front (LDF), the coalition of Left-wing parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, on Thursday won a decisive mandate in Kerala, unseating the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). The LDF won 90 seats in the 16 May election, just two short of a two-thirds majority in the 140-member assembly and way above the 47 won by the UDF. Read more
Election results: Losing streak puts the spotlight on Congress dynasty. Congress regimes have been booted out of six states in the past two years, signalling a clear shift in India’s polity. Read more
Tamil Nadu results: Jayalalithaa breaks the re-election jinx
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has created history—returning to office for a second consecutive term in a state where such a feat has not been achieved in nearly three decades. Since the 1989 assembly election, the state has routinely seen Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK and its principal opponent, the M. Karunanidhi-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), alternating as the ruling and opposition parties. Read more
AIADMK, Trinamool victories underscore political significance of regional parties. The weaker the Congress gets, the greater the room for regional parties to expand presence. Read more
Anti-incumbency propels Congress-DMK to power in Puducherry
The Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance is all set to form the government in Puducherry, upsetting the incumbent All India NR Congress (AINRC) government in the assembly election. The Congress-DMK alliance has secured a simple majority of 17 seats in the 30-member assembly. The AINRC could win only eight seats. Read more
Assembly elections: Why anti-incumbency took a bigger toll on Congress. Along with anti-incumbency, a lack of political strategy and graft charges hurt the Congress party in Assam and Kerala. Read more
How big a role does populism play in elections?
Populist measures, such as the Amma canteen, a chain of government-run heavily subsidized budget canteens, is a common poll practice followed by political parties. The slew of freebies promised ahead of the polls by AIADMK may be a key reason for its victory in Tamil Nadu. Read more
The governance agenda
Mint draws on the electoral promises of the assembly election winners to chart the agenda ahead. Read more
NEET: President Pranab Mukherjee seeks legal advice on ordinance
President Pranab Mukherjee has sought legal advice on the ordinance to keep state boards out of the ambit of uniform medical entrance examination, NEET, for this year. The president is seeking clarification on the ordinance, official sources said on Saturday, adding he is consulting in-house legal experts on certain questions. The ordinance, cleared by the Union cabinet on Friday, is aimed at “partially" overturning a Supreme Court verdict which said all government colleges, deemed universities and private medical colleges would be covered under NEET. Read more
Pinarayi Vijayan named Kerala chief minister
Pinarayi Vijayan is set to become the next chief minister of Kerala after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) emerged triumphant in the 16 May state assembly election. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, chose Vijayan, 72, over V.S. Achuthanandan, 92, a former chief minister of the southern state, who led the Left’s election campaign. Read more
O. Rajagopal, BJP’s first Kerala MLA, looks to change old notions about the party
It has been over half a century since former Union minister O. Rajagopal entered politics—he started off as a national executive council member in the Jana Sangh way back in 1964. The past 52 years haven’t been easy—he has sought the public mandate in almost 13 small and big elections for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was referred to as the BJP’s permanent candidate in Kerala, with no success. But like a veritable phoenix, he has risen from the ashes over and over again. And it has finally paid off. Read more
Government tightens rules for GM seed technology providers
The government has capped royalty fees payable to Monsanto Co. and other providers of genetically modified (GM) seed technology and barred them from denying a licence to any local company. According to a notification issued on 18 May, for any GM trait commercialized in India, the technology provider cannot charge a royalty that exceeds 10% of the maximum sale price of the seeds, which is fixed by the government every year. The cap of 10% will apply for the first five years. From the sixth year on, the royalty will decrease by 10% a year. Read more
For detailed coverage of the 2016 assembly elections, go to
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