The political verdict was out on 19 th of May 2016 for the five states where assembly elections were held, the states being Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Out of these five, Puducherry is a Union Territory. It was largely fair and free polls, where voters exercised their franchise to elect their respective representatives. The outcome is considered to be significant on many accounts, as was the voters turn out in the respective states, when precedent was set by the voters themselves, who accelerated the voting percentage up to 88 in two states.
Beginning with the North Eastern states of India, Assam, the political verdict has been truly stimulating, perhaps as stimulating as its tea. Here the voters have uprooted the incumbent ruling political party, the congress. The state once used to be the stronghold of the party. On the contrary, the BJP, termed as saffron party for nurturing cultural ethos of Hinduvta, has broken the jinx by forming the government for the very first time in that part of the country, thereby proving its ideological acceptance among voters of different spectrum. The national security issue had moulded the voting pattern here, since voters were asphyxiated by illegal Bangladeshi Muslim migrants, a voter reserve of the congress and AUIDF, led by perfume baron Ajmal. The people of the state of Assam have also set the standard for the rest, by rising above caste, religion and ethnicity for nationalistic and security issues rather than allured by the freebies as witnessed in other states.
The political verdict in state of West Bengal was in the line with history, where a ruling party holds the record of having the longer periods of political reign, where the Communist had 37 years long stretch of power. Mamata Banerjee led TMC has made a spectacular comeback, rooting the CPI(M) and the Congress combine, with it increasing its own seat in the Legislative assembly. The TMC has reaped the benefit of disarrayed opposition in the state, where the Communist and the Congress dance to the same tune of secularism to garnish the Muslim votes, as the state has one of largest Muslim population largely infiltrated from Bangladesh due porous border. The outcome in the southern state of India Tamil Nadu, was identical to West Bengal, where a ruling party AIADMK bucked the anti – incumbency trend of Dravidian politics by retaining the power. Jayalalita, popularly known as Amma, planted the seed of re – election, only to match the feat achieved once by her mentor and southern film star M. G. Ramachandran, thirty years ago.
Kerala as is widely known, power here is swapped between the two alliances named LDF and UDF led by the Communist and the Congress respectively for the last three and half decades. If you look at the outcome here, the CIP(M) led LDF regained back the power from the UDF, the only wonder was the saffron challenge sprung by BJP, where it got a lotus bloom by its party veteran Rajagopal.This was for the first time, BJP managed to open its account in the God’s own country, since independence. The fifth, being the Union Territory of Puducherry, where the moribund Congress managed to grasp the power with the help of DMK.
This electoral verdict has sounded knell for the dynastic parties like the Congress and DMK in the south, thus posing mark on their resurrection. On the other hand, it marked the significance of regional state centric party as viable alternative for the natives. The ramification of this verdict will be clearly visible in the upper House of The Parliament, the Rajya Sabha where the obstructionist Congress will be countered with its diminishing number. Nevertheless, what effect will it have on national politics; will be better told in 2019.
