The Mint Report for 06 March 2012

New Delhi: Results from the assembly were a clear setback for the ruling Congress, which has lost out in at least three out the five states. Regional parties and the opposition BJP were, on the other hand, the gainers. Starting with biggest state of them all, Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party has swept back to power dramatically. The party and its partners either won or were leading in 226 out of 403 seats. Its closest rival, the ruling BSP, trailed far behind with just 80 seats. And the BJP alliance held 47 seats, while the Congress and its allies were at fourth place with just 38. The UP election results are a major blow for Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who fought hard in the stateand effectively staked his political reputation on the campaign.

Meanwhile, in Uttarakhand, it’s a close race, with the opposition Congress managing a lead with 32 seats out of 70. The ruling BJP was right behind with 31 seats. Uttarakhand appears to be heading for a hung assembly.

And it was a very different story in Goa, where the opposition BJP is ready to storm back into power. The party and its allies got 26 seats out of the total 40. The ruling Congress alliance only managed to secure nine seats.

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The Congress could declare a clear victory in only one state out of the five that went to the polls. The party will continue in power in Manipur with a resounding 42 seats out of the total 60 to its name. The Trinamool Congress was the closest rival with a mere seven seats.

And finally, Indian markets reacted badly to the election results-- with investors worried that the drubbing the Congress has received will make it harder to implement reforms. The Sensex dropped 190 points to 17,173. And the Nifty lost 58 to 5,222.