New Delhi: Congress defied Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) aggressive stance on terror and price rise in the Assembly elections for the five states - Delhi, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh - to register comprehensive wins in the first two states.
The Grand Old Party of India also sprung a surprise by becoming the single largest party in Rajasthan falling just three seats short of the half-way mark in the 200-member Assembly.
BJP, which was hoping to bag at least four states, managed to retain power in only Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
In Delhi, Sheila Dikshit surprised everyone by registering a hat-trick of wins pushing the BJP to the second spot. Congress also bagged Mizoram with a two thirds majority mark in the 40-member House.
Dikshit defeated Vijay Jolly of the BJP by a margin of 14, 078 votes as her party defied anti-incumbency and charges of being anti-people to register an impressive victory in the 70-member Assembly
Mizo National Front, the ruling party in Mizoram, was decimated winning only six seats with chief minister Zoramthanga losing in both the seats that he contested from.
BJP, which had hoped to corner the Congress on the issues of terror and price rise, managed to retain power in Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
Its win in Madhya Pradesh was a very comprehensive one with Shivraj Singh Chauhan guiding the party to power in Bhopal registering wins in more than double the seats than Congress.
Chhattisgarh was too close to call when the early trends started to pour in with both the BJP and the Congress neck-and-neck but by afternoon the ruling party opened a sizable gap.
The results of wins in two states and the good show in Rajasthan is a boost for Congress, after it suffered defeats in 13 states after coming to power at the head of the United Progressive Alliance coalition at the Centre in 2004.
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Reacting to Congress' win in Delhi, the BJP said that the poll results were more a victory for Dikshit and some leaders suggested that the party could have projected a younger candidate for the chief minister's post.
"The results that are coming so far here is a setback for us," Arun Jaitley, BJP General Secretary, who is in-charge of party affairs in the capital, was quoted as saying by PTI.
He said that the electorate had given a "clear vote in favour of the Congress".
"It is a clear victory for the Congress in Delhi. Moreover, it's the victory of Sheila Dikshit," he said.
Jaitley said he accepted moral responsibility for the party's defeat in Delhi.
"A younger chief ministerial candidate, perhaps, could have helped. Arun Jaitley could have been a better candidate," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier remarked.
He, however, was quick to add that it was a "personal comment for a personal friend. Arun Jaitley is a dear friend."
BJP had projected Vijay Kumar Malhotra, 78, as its chief ministerial candidate.
The party also conceded that the issue of terror attacks failed to enthuse voters and even its wins in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh was due to the development work carried out by the respective state government.
BJP had made terrorism its main electoral plank, accusing the Congress of being "soft" on dealing with the scourge and projecting itself as the party which could insulate the country from it.
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