Elections to five assemblies in Indiain 2022 have been remarkable in terms of their enormity. Participation ofmillions of voters andthousands  of candidates, and an  imposing machineryto ensure that elections are fairand beyond any question with regard to their  integrity made the elections challenging. Coming to  the political parties in the  fray, one can easily see that the biggest gainer in these elections is the Aam Aadmi Partywhich has swept the elections in Punjab in a mighty sweep of their broom, the party symbol. The party  which made its presence in the state of Punjab in the last elections with about 20 seats, on the way, was reduced to half its number becauseits elected  members  switched loyalty and joined Congress, the ruling party. Now the party has won an astounding  92seats in this state assembly, which has 117 seats. Obviously, itis  a  record of sorts.  I don’t recall any single party in Punjab having won that number ever. Another party  which has done very well and that has been doing so well for the last 8 years now, ever since 2014,  is the BJP.

BJP came to power in UP in 2017 with a thumping majority. It floored one-time strong parties like the BSP and the Samajwadi Party. People were  expecting a change because of anti-incumbencyfactors but it did not work in the State of Uttar Pradesh  where Yogi Adityanath has created a record by becoming a chief Minister for a second term in succession.No Chief Minister in UP has ever been elected twice in succession except GobindBallabh Pant a  long time ago.

However, BJP did lose a couple of seats  andsettled for  274 seats in a house of 403 seats. The BJP’s loss was the gain of the Samajwadi Party which managed to double its strength from 2017  by  registering  124 wins.

The exit polls have been indicating that BJP and Congress will be close contestants  in the States of Uttarakhand and Goa, but  they were proved wrong because BJP made clean  sweep in both the states.

Coming to the losers, one can clearly  seethat the Congress  has been the biggest loser. Its  streak of losing elections has been continuing and the greatest loss has been the state of Punjab where Congress was the  ruling party with 70 odd seats and has been mauled badly, wining just 18 seats. Also, the SAD Badal suffered humiliating defeats when both Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal who have been Chief Ministers lost election, besides the party folding up with just 4 seats. Yet, another party that suffered heavily and has  probably almost lost its  base  is the BSP in Uttar Pradesh. A party which ruled the state on two occasions got just 1 seat.

With the elections over and the results out, there are celebrations in the BJP and AAP quarters while those that got the drubbing are huddling together to take stock of the reasons for their failure. Come 2024, and we will be watching  a much bigger fight when General Elections are due. It will be interesting to see the course which India adopts post 2024 elections. Only time will tell whether  Indiawill stay a multi-cultural and multi-religious nation or move towards a theocratic state which is the dream of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. The recent electoral wins must have come as a shot in the arm of the BJP

For now, let us celebrate Indian democracy.