We have seen the abysmal downfall of a national party such as the Congress in recent times, because of a resurgent BJP. Even the Delhi Civic polls and the way they were swept by the party at the centre seemed to show how the BJP juggernaut has been unstoppable in recent times. The story with regional parties such as the Trinamool Congress however has been different. We look at the recent results of the civic polls across the state of West Bengal and the ramifications this could have on the state polls as well as the national scene.
There were148 wards across the various pockets of the state and the Trinamool Congress won 140 of those seats. The BJP managed only 6 seats.
The Trinamool had won a landslide victory at the assembly polls as well in 2016 and Mamata Banerjee was elected for her second term as the state’s Chief Minister. While in the 2011 polls the TMC won 184, in 2016 the party won 211 out of 294 seats.
The central ruling party BJP has had little success in the eastern state of West Bengal; though encouraged by their performance in the UP elections, many in the party were very hopeful of turning the tide.
Where earlier the BJP had three seats, it now has six. The BJP appears to benefit from the ground lost by the Left-Congress combine. The BJP also improved its performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections (having won 2 seats and having increased its vote share from 4 to 17%) and has now set its sights on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Looking at the LS polls in less than two years from now, BJP chief Amit Shah has kicked off ‘Mission 350+’. He met with 31 of his party leaders to create a strategy for the 2019 polls; hoping to improve on the previous performance of 282 seats.
Also looking towards the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, it is now being suggested that the Congress and TMC could team up. The leaders of both parties are still hedging their bets. The fact that Mamata Banerjee recently backed a Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections is also indicative.
Political rivals as well as analysts have accused the BJP of using polarizing planks for the elections; accusing the ruling TMC of playing vote bank politics and of minority appeasement. The ‘native vs illegal immigrant’ tactic employed by the BJP and telling voters how they were being treated unfairly has appealed to many and has managed to rally together voters. Analysts feel that it will be down to ‘Modi Magic’ come 2019.
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