BJP Wins Three of Four State Polls Months Before 2024 National Election

India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, won three out of four key state elections. The crucial polls are less than six months before the vital 2024 national elections. The BJP wrested control of the heartland states of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the INC and maintained its power in Madhya Pradesh. INC only won Telangana, where they defeated regional satrap Bhartiya Rashtra Samiti who were until 5 Oct, 2022 called Telangana Rashtra Samiti. They had been in power twice since the formation of the state. The results point to the fact that now the battle for India is between Hindi-belt states versus the rest of the country. This has three major implications: one, the INC alone cannot take on the BJP. The INDIA alliance that the INC mooted along with other parties opposed to the BJP needs to come alive to be able to present a credible force in the Lok Sabha elections. Two, the national caste census, a dire need of the hour, will be opposed by the Hindi-belt states and will be very difficult to carry out. Three, the inevitable delimitation process to realign constituencies according to population will never get the proportional representation rider and will be always in favor of the Hindi-belt states. The irony for AAP, which contested all these states using Panjab’s resources, is that it could win less than NOTA votes, totaling less than 1% of polled votes. Yet, for weeks the entire AAP political leadership was missing from Panjab and campaigning in these states going to the polls.