indian election

Who’s afraid of moving on?
India's largest state Uttar Pradesh has given the mandate firmly to the Samajwadi Party these elections, with the party now hovering very close to the clear majority mark.
The Congress has failed miserably in UP, been 'shocked' in Punjab -- sinceit had 'sniffed' victory -- was unseated in Goa and is fighting tooth-and-nail with the BJP in Uttarakhand. The party, however, managed to sweep Manipur.
The contest in Uttarakhand has gone to the wires, but it is advantage to the ruling saffron party according to latest trends. Goa has gone the BJP way after it defeated the ruling Congress convincingly to capture power.
In Uttar Pradesh, it became clear very early that Mulayam Singh would not need the Congress. It can now also ignore assurances of support from smaller outfits, including the Peace Party.
The SP has so far won and is leading in a total of 220 seats, much above the 202 required for a clear majority. The party has announced MulayamSingh will be the new chief minister.
The ruling BSP has been trampled as exit polls predicted and Mayawati is expected to hand over her resignation to the Governor soon. BJP is third in UP so far, the Congress fourth. The Congress has also lost a seat in Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Amethi.
In Punjab, the ruling SAD-BJP combine is well on its way to retaining power – the first time in the history of its politics that the same coalition has got two stints at the Assembly. Parkash Singh Badal will be re-elected chief minister, the party has announced.
The loss has been a shock for the Congress, which widely expected to wrest power from the Akali Dal-BJP combine.
The Congress, which was trailing miserably earlier, made some progressby evening to win 46 seats in the 117-member Assembly. But Akali partner BJP, despite its poor show these elections, got the numbers to enable Parkash Singh Badal to form the government.
SP, headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, was surging ahead in nearly 220 seats according to latest trends, while the ruling BSP has won or was leading in less than 90 seats.
The BJP is looking at a haul of 50 and the Congress 40 seats.
The UP results are a bitter blow to Rahul Gandhi who had staked his political future on reviving his party's fortunes in the populous state.
Rahul had campaigned tirelessly to revive his party in the politically crucial state where it has not ruled for 22 years.
The campaign, which thrust him into the rough and tumble of the state'spolitics -- even sleeping in villagers' huts -- was widely seen as a test of his fitness to take the reins of Congress from his ailing mother.
The Uttar Pradesh election was also seen as a measure of Rahul's ability to emerge from the shadows of government and come in the forefront in 2014.
BJP chief spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad has said the party would be content to sit in the opposition in Uttar Pradesh if that was the verdict of the people.