New Delhi
Contrary to exit polls’ results and predictions by poll pundits, the BJP turned the tables on the Congress by easily romping home to victory in Chhattisgarh. This it did purely by trumping the ruling party in the State’s tribal bastions.
However, if seen overall, of the total 152 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, the Congress lagged the BJP by just two seats. While the BJP won 55 ST seats, the Congress emerged victorious on 53 ST seats.
Chhattisgarh
- The BJP surpassed even its own expectations in the tribal-dominated State as it ousted the perceivably strong Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress regime from power. Despite initially trailing when counting started, the BJP raced to a comfortable majority by winning 54 of the total 90 seats while the Congress could manage to win just 35 seats. The majority required was 46 seats.
- It was the BJP’s showing on the ST seats that proved to be the gamechanger. Of the 29 ST seats, the BJP won 17 seats while the Congress won 11. The Gondwana Gantantra Party further spoiled the party for Congress by winning one ST seat.
- In 2018, the Congress won 68 of the 90 seats and in the process bagged 25 of the 29 Assembly seats reserved for the STs. The BJP could win just 2 ST seats last time, which means a straight gain of 15 seats this time round.
Madhya Pradesh
- The Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led State saw the BJP register an emphatic victory and decimate the Kamal Nath-led Congress. There was no neck-and-neck fight as was envisaged by experts.
- Unlike in 2018, this time round the BJP had a greater share of tribal support than the Congress but which too did not fare badly. The 230-member-strong MP Assembly has the highest number of seats (47) reserved for STs in India.
- Overall, the BJP won a total 163 seats (majority mark 116) compared to Congress’ 66 seats. And of the 47 ST seats, the BJP won 24 seats — a gain of 8 seats from 2018. But the Congress lagged by just 2 seats bagging 22 ST seats, which means 1/3rd of its tally of 66 seats overall.
- In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP had won 16 ST seats, a significant drop from the 31 ST seats the party had won in 2013. Congress, on the other hand, had doubled its tally from 15 ST seats in 2013 to 30 ST seats in 2018.
- In 29 other non-reserved seats but where tribals hold considerable sway, the BJP registered wins on 20 seats.
- As in Chhattisgarh, in MP too, a tribal outfit called the Bharat Adivasi Party managed to win one seat.
Rajasthan
- Voters stuck to the trend of ousting the incumbent government in the desert State. They voted out the Ashok Gehlot dispensation in favour of the BJP which bagged 115 of the 199 seats on which polls were held to easily go past the required majority mark of 100 seats.
- Of the 25 ST seats, the BJP won 12 seats, a gain of 3 ST seats. The Congress, which won just 69 seats overall, however, managed to win 10 ST seats, a loss of just 2 seats compared to 2018.
- In 2018, when the people voted the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP dispensation out of power, the Congress had bagged 12 ST seats of the total 25 seats. The BJP could win only 9 ST seats then.
- New entrant Bharat Adivasi Party registered an impressive performance winning 3 seats.
Telangana
- The Congress continued its impressive performance down South. After ousting the BJP from power in neighbouring Karnataka, it repeated the act in Telangana where it dethroned the 10-year-old K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi regime. Of the total 119 seats, the Congress won 64 seats while the BRS could win only 39 seats.
- In Karnataka, the Congress had bagged all the 15 ST seats even as the BJP drew a blank. In Telangana too, the BJP has drawn a blank on the 12 ST seats. The Congress won nine of them making up for the gap in number of ST seats produced in Chhattisgarh. The BRS could win just 3 ST seats.
- In 2018, the BRS (then TRS) and the Congress had shared the honours equally by winning 5 ST seats each.
Mizoram
- Results for the Mizoram Assembly elections poured in on December 4. It witnessed the end of the Zoramthanga-led Mizoram National Front (MNF) rule and the emergence of Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) — a congregation of six parties — led by a former IPS officer Lalduhoma.
- The ZPM bagged 27 of the 40 Assembly seats while the MNF could win a mere 10 seats. Of the total 40 seats, 39 seats are reserved for STs with the Aizawl East seat being the lone general seat.
- Once a force to reckon with in the State, the Congress won just 1 ST seat while the BJP won 2 ST seats.
- In 2018, MNF had bagged 26 seats while the Congress secured five seats and the BJP only one seat.
