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October 22th Thrusday

Top News In India

Assembly Polls 2009 RESULTS


It could be a hat-trick for the Congress as it is poised to retain all the three states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.

While it has swept the other two, Haryana seems to be a close call. Ironically, this was a state the Congress saw as a walkover and even called the election six months early to cash in on the Lok Sabha goodwill.

Numerically, the party will not gain much as the tally of Congress-ruled states will still be 11; however, politically the mileage is immense. The dominant message is that the Congress is still riding the winning Lok Sabha wave. Despite drought, despite price hike, and despite 26/11, the Congress still managed to retain the state for a third time. Pro-incumbency, a trend that began with the assembly elections last year and carried on during the general elections, now seems to be a phrase that is here to stay. Fortunately for the Congress, it is in the right place to reap the benefits.
Cong
Cong workers celebrate

But did the Congress win the elections or did the Opposition just hand it to them on a platter? Except for INLD's surprising revival in Haryana, almost all the other opposition parties failed to mount a credible attack on the Congress. The BJP, rudderless at the national-level, transmitted its chaos to its state unit, leaving the campaign at the mercy of Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari. Both of them are able Number Two men, neither has the capacity to take on the mantle of leadership just yet. In Haryana, the situation was much worse. An ego tussle between two top BJP leaders with one supporting INLD and the other Kuldeep Bishnoi's little outfit ensured that no credible coalition could be cobbled together. In fact, so low is the BJP's stock that the INLD leadership claimed that it did well this time round because it was not handicapped by a BJP alliance as it was during the Lok Sabha polls.

Contrary to the BJP, the Congress is fast cementing its leadership credentials. Unlike the general elections, the Rahul-Sonia duo were not active campaigners. In fact due to bad weather, they did not even make it to Arunachal. No matter. Yet, there was leadership. Despite pressure from the state leaders, and some of the general secretaries too -- including her son - to go it alone, the Congress President kept the alliance with the NCP on. Realising that the Congress was on a winning wicket, she, however, kept the decision pending till the last minute so that the NCP would be pressurised into settling for a lesser number of seats. Given the fact that the NCP contested only 112 of the 288 seats, its win of over 60 shows an excellent strike record, as Sharad Pawar himself pointed out. True the Congress needs the NCP to form the government, but a 60+ is still nowhere near its score of 71 (Last time, the NCP scored two more than the Congress party's 69). As both the Congress and the NCP think they have one up over the other, there will be a hard bargain for the portfolios.

Unlike her husband, or even her mother-in-law, Sonia is also secure enough to allow her chief ministers some growth potential. Despite Vilasrao Deshmukh's claims to the throne, there seems little indication that she will disturb the incumbent Ashok Chavan. Just as she did when she appointed a relatively junior Bhupinder Hooda on the Haryana CM's chair five years ago, she will continue the grooming of Ashok Chavan. The Congress is still wary of building regional chieftains but under Sonia, it is creating a charismatic, second-rung leadership that is confined to the state level. While the late YSR, Sheila Dikshit, Hooda, Gogoi - even perhaps Amarinder Singh - can all win their states for a second or even third time, not one has an appeal beyond their state borders and so will never be a threat to 10 Janpath. Sonia is smart enough to realise that she needs to groom a leadership at the state level that will bring in the votes so that the Congress need not depend upon regional parties. But she ensures that none of these leaders ever extend their brief, or the boundaries of ambition.

That then is the dominant message of the election: the Congress has not just retained three states, it has proved that it can provide a credible leadership, both at the Central and state level. In comparision, the BJP really has very little to offer. It is hoping for a reprieve in Jharkhand, a state that is slated to go to the polls in December. Unlike Haryana, or even Maharashtra, the BJP has a real chance of grabbing power in that tiny north Indian state. Losing the Jharkhand polls would damage party morale even more than this current loss. It has over a month to get its act together. If it mucks up Jharkhand as well, then the entire party might as well pack its bags along with Rajnath and Advani, and troop back to the shakha



Congress wins Maharashtra, Arunachal; fractured verdict in Haryana

MAHARASHTRA
The Congress, along with its ally NCP, was poised to retain power in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly. Of the 269 results declared so far, the ruling combine has bagged 131, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance 87, MNS 13, Republican Left Democratic Front 12 and others 26. ( Watch Video )

The Congress-NCP alliance, which had won 140 seats in the last elections, may end up with almost the same figure and may not have problems in forming the government with the support of rebels of both the parties and independents.

The Sena-BJP leaders are attributing their loss to the Raj Thackeray-led MNS which made its maiden foray in the 288-member House.

"We lost because MNS ate into the traditional Shiv Sena votes," BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde said.

As Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has made it clear that it will not stake claim to chief minister's post, the process of government formation is likely to get speeded up, a senior Congress leader said.

Chief minister Ashok Chavan, in race for the top job, said the ruling alliance's performance was due to the dynamic leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and team work by Congress-NCP combine.

HARYANA
The Congress has fallen short of a majority in Haryana after results for all seats were declared.

The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Haryana assembly elections but was not able to get a clear victory. The party won 40 of the 90-member assembly seats, the INLD won 31, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) won 6, the BJP 4 and Independents 7. The BSP won one seat in the state and Shiromani Akali Dal, an alliance partner of the INLD, won one.

For a simple majority in the assembly, the Congress needs 46 seats. It had won 67 seats in the February 2005 elections. .

While INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala won the Uchana Kalan seat defeating finance minister Birender Singh by a margin of 621 votes, his son Ajay Chautala emerged victorious from Dabwali defeating his cousin K V Singh of Congress.

Haryana Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana and transport minister Mange Ram Gupta lost from Mullana and Jind to INLD.

Among other prominent winners are HJC-BL chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, who won the Adampur and Haryana BJP President Krishan Pal Gujjar, who was declared elected from Tigaon.

ARUNACHAL PRADESH
The ruling Congress party in Arunachal Pradesh will form the next government for the second straight term, having already won 38 of 60 assembly seats as counting of votes progressed Thursday.

Of the 55 results declared, the Congress party won 38 seats, Trinamool Congress won five seats, six by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), two by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and four by independents and candidates belonging to smaller regional parties.

The Congress is leading in four more seats, according to latest trends available.

"This is a victory for good governance and stability, besides all round development that we were able to bring to the state," Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu told IANS.

"We thank the people of the state for giving us a chance to rule the state for yet another term." Voting was held for 57 seats with three candidates already declared elected unopposed.

Khandu and two more ruling Congress members were declared elected unopposed - sitting MLA Tsewang Dhondup from Tawang constituency and debutant Jambey Tashi from the Lumla seat.

Khandu was elected unopposed from the Mukto constituency in Tawang district, bordering China, repeating his feat in the 1999 and 2004 assembly elections.

Voting for the 60-member assembly elections was held Oct 13 with an estimated 72 percent of the 750,000 electorate having exercised their franchise.

A total of 154 candidates were in the fray with the ruling Congress party fielding candidates in all the 60 seats.

Apart from the Congress party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) fielded 36 candidates, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 22 -- although the surprise element was the Trinamool Congress with several candidates in the fray.

Of the Trinamool Congress nominees, five are former Congress party ministers and 10 are sitting MLAs from the ruling party who were denied tickets this time.




Congress party wins state polls - TV


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's ruling Congress party-led alliance won two state polls on Thursday and were set to form the government in a third, local television said, a result that gives more room for the alliance to push economic reforms.

Elections were held last week in Maharashtra, northern Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh in polls seen as a major test for the Congress coalition after a strong victory in central polls in May.

The party retained power in Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh, and were expected to hold on to power in Haryana, party officials said.

"It is a mixed result for the Congress party, as they won largely because of a fractured opposition, but they now have the opportunity to consolidate and rework their strategies," said Amulya Ganguli, an independent political analyst.

Experts said the Congress will now be able to dictate the pace and scope of reform measures such as politically tough stake sales in state-run firms.

"This paves the way for economic reforms because there will be less number of dissenting voices and the Congress can now focus on economic reforms as their first priority," said D.H. Pai Panandikar of the RPG Foundation, an economic think tank.

"The vote shows the Congress is coming on its own and is reinstating itself as the single largest party in India," Panandikar added.

A weak and divided Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition Hindu nationalist party, was hoping that a severe drought and security issues could help them, but party officials were quick to concede defeat after early count showed they were trailing.




Cong falls short of majority in Haryana; wins Maha, Arunachala



he Congress has fallen short of a majority in Haryana after results for all seats were declared on Thursday, while it is set to retain power in Maharashtra
and sweep Arunachal Pradesh
.

Of the 90 assembly seats, for which the results were declared Thursday, the ruling Congress is short of six seats from the magic figure of 46, as independents. ,

The Congress is likely to seek support of Independent candidates, seven of whom won, to form the next government in the state.

With all the results declared, the Congress finished with a tally of 40 followed by INLD, whose ally Shiromani Akali Dal got one seat.

INLD, which has made a significant comeback, won at 31 constituencies in the 90-member House.

Of the remaining 18 seats, Haryana Janhit Congress-BL, a new entrant in assembly polls, got six seats, BJP four and BSP one.

While the Congress suffered major losses conceding 27 seats it won in 2005, the INLD, led by former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, improved its tally to 31 from nine seats it won last time.

Meanwhile, the Congress has offered an olive branch to HJC-BL leader Kuldeep Bishnoi, whose party has won six seats in the assembly.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said Congress was all set to return to power for a second term and the party high command will take a decision on the issue of leadership of the legislature party.

Hooda said he was a candidate for the Chief Minister's post but "not a claimant. All decisions of the Congress high command will be binding upon me."

On his earlier assessment that the Congress will make a clean sweep, Hooda admitted "Our assessment on the assembly polls was wrong. We will analyse our performance."

He, however, said people in Haryana want that Congress should form the government. "We may have got less number of seats, but our vote share is not low," he said, adding that being the single largest party they would soon meet the Governor to stake claim.

Hooda, however, had the satisfaction of winning with the largest margin 71,200 votes from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat.

Buoyed by the improvement in INLD's tally, Chautala demanded that the Governor should invite the opposition parties first to give them an opportunity to form the government.

"We appeal to the Governor that he should first invite the opposition parties, which have emerged as the largest group. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda should immediately step down on moral grounds and the Congress should not stake claim to form the government," he said.

Despite BJP snapping ties with it shortly before the Assembly polls, Chautala said he still has good friends in that party and he would not hesitate in approaching them.

"It is not the political relations that I have with the BJP, but I have personal relations with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior leader L K Advani and BJP chief Rajnath Singh. We will talk to the BJP," he said, indicating he was not averse to seeking their support.

A number of state ministers including Birender Singh (Uchana Kalan), Mange Ram Gupta (Jind), Lachhman Dass Arora (Sirsa), A C Chaudhary (Faridabad NIT) and Meena Mandal (Nilokheri) lost.

Haryana Congress President Phool Chand Mullana (Mullana), cricketer Yuvraj Singh's father Yograj Singh (Panchkula) and Haryana Youth Congress President Sanjay Chokhar (Samalkha) were among the prominent losers.

Those who retained their seats included Kiran Chaudhary (Tosham), Randeep Surjewala (Kaithal), Harmohinder Singh Chatha (Pehowa), Ajay Yadava (Rewari), Savitri Jindal (Hissar).

Chautala, whose INLD faced a total rout in the Lok Sabha elections in May, won from two seats - Uchana Kalan and Ellenabad. His son Ajay was elected from Dabwali while his younger brother Ranjit lost as a Congress nominee from Rania.

Other prominent winners include Speaker Raghbir Singh Kadian (Beri), Haryana BJP President Krishan Pal Gujjar (Tigaon), HJC President Kuldeep Bishnoi (Adampur) and former Minister Venod Sharma (Ambala City).

Of the three senior INLD leaders who joined Congress shortly before the assembly polls, only former Finance Minister Sampat Singh won from Nalwa defeating former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal's wife Jasma Devi.

Two other former INLD leaders -- Women's wing chief Kailsho Saini (Ladwa) and former Lok Sabha MP Sushil Indora Kalanwali (SC) -- lost to INLD and SAD nominees.

Former BJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam, who came into limelight after he criticised the saffron party's leadership for its alliance with INLD, lost from Narnaund as a nominee of the Congress, which he joined before the elections.