AA Edit | Key state polls ahead to be NDA-INDIA battlegrounds

The elections to the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assemblies, two Lok Sabha seats and 48 Assembly seats is all set to be definitive as it will be forwarding a lot of explanations to elections in the recent past and will be a pointer to those scheduled in the near future.

It will be almost a repeat of the 2024 elections where the INDIA collation as a cohesive unit took on the NDA front, led by BJP and its master campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Like in the Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi which predates the INDIA alliance has now become a snug unit, minor hitches notwithstanding, having settled issues which generally crop up in political alliances. The resignation and arrest of JMM leader and chief minister Hemant Soren and his reinstatement have helped the INDIA alliance in Jharkhand get more realistic about the challenges ahead. Byelections are also scheduled for nine seats in Uttar Pradesh and seven in Rajasthan Assemblies, along with those in 13 other states.

The BJP received a setback in the Lok Sabha elections when it failed to muster a simple majority against its claim of winning 370 seats thanks mainly to the reverses it suffered in its strongholds, which included Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. The party leadership and the cadre refused to slip into disappointment but worked diligently instead, and the results are there for everyone to see in the recently-concluded Haryana elections. They served up a surprise not just to pollsters but to the BJP, too, as the party won a majority on its own and improved the vote and seat shares in the face of anti-incumbency and talks of widespread unemployment. The Haryana victory worked as an energiser for the party, and it is getting ready for the kill in the next phase. It also has a point to prove in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan — that its sway over the masses has not waned.

The Congress, meanwhile, was busy exploring self-defeatist ways. The party that learnt its lessons from the 2023 Assembly election fiasco in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh firmed up the INDIA alliance and the effort got reflected in the Lok Sabha elections. But the Congress leaders who believed that their party has a right to power took the people and the cadre for granted, fought among themselves and delivered Haryana on a patter to their archrivals. It can now either recognise the reality that it is fighting a 24-by-7 opponent with endless resources and shape up the alliance or continue with the games of one-upmanship that it likes to play. The grand old party will also do well to realise that it is a junior partner in the alliance in most constituencies that go to polls now.

The Election Commission of India has scheduled the voting in a single phase in Maharashtra and in two phases in Jharkhand. It may be noted that the panel held the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra in five phases and in Jharkhand in four phases. The Opposition parties had then questioned the logic of spreading elections over so wide a time frame. The poll panel must put in place some mechanism to assure that election schedules follow a logical pattern.