oppn parties No Stopping BJP And AAP Is The New Star

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
No Stopping BJP And AAP Is The New Star

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-03-11 02:52:26

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

The results of the elections in five states show that while there is little or no change in BJP's popularity from states as diverse as Manipur and UP, the Congress is going further downhill. They also showed that AAP has now become a force to reckon with in national politics in the manner it won Punjab.

That the BJP bucked anti-incumbency, loss of several prominent OBC leaders, Jat and farmer anger, criticism over the mishandling of the Covid situation during the second wave, joblessness, economic distress and a huge push by the Samajwadi Party to actually increase its vote share (although the seats went down substantially) in Uttar Pradesh was creditable. It showed that increasingly, caste and minority mobilization is not enough to win elections. In the face of Modi-Yogi magic, Akhilesh Yadav must be left wondering what else he needed to have done in order to beat the BJP.

In Punjab, the broom swept aside everything. With an astonishing 92 seats, AAP has got a resounding mandate for change. The five-cornered contests in the state this time were expected to divide votes and the outcomes could not be predicted. In the end, all they did was to consolidate the votes in AAP's favour with a vengeance. The scale of AAP's victory is truly remarkable and it now needs to work to repay the faith reposed by the people of the state.

BJP also managed to come back to power in Uttarakhand and Manipur with a clear majority. In Goa, it is just one short of majority and is expected to form the government. In all three states, it won despite a clear anti-incumbency wave and that was mainly because its principal opposition, the Congress, could not get its act right.

The Congress proved once again that it is its own worst enemy. It was expected to give a tough fight to the BJP in Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. But it flattered to deceive. In all three states, its seats and vote share went down substantially, showing that it is increasingly becoming irrelevant. If things continue in this fashion, the opposition space will be scooped by parties like AAP and the Congress will become history.