US Battle in 2023: Political Parties Test Water in 9 Assemblies | Popgen Tech

The year 2022 ended with bitterly fought Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The Congress sees the victory in Himachal Pradesh as its renaissance while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to retain Gujarat after 27 years of anti-incumbency.

With only a year and a half left for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP, Congress and other regional players will fight the battle in nine states next year to consolidate their positions ahead of the final test. Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tripura and Telangana will go to polls in 2023. The government may also hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir next year, IANS reported.

The BJP has already started its preparations for the general elections with a series of meetings in Delhi and other states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are now setting their sights on the northeast where 4 states will go to polls next year. The two leaders recently made a trip to the region, blowing the survey.

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Earlier this month, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked the state in-charge to organize mass movements and sought a schedule for the programs planned in the state where Assembly elections are due next year.

Here’s a look at the position of the BJP and other parties in the nine states where Assembly elections are due next year:

Rajasthan

The Congress wrested power from the BJP in 2018, winning 100 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly. The BJP, which won a huge majority of 163 seats in 2013, could get only 73 seats in 2018. The state would again see a double contest between the BJP and the Congress in 2023. Since 1990, the power of Rajasthan has oscillated between the BJP. and Congress.

The rift between CM Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot has made it difficult for the Congress to fight the 2023 polls together. However, both were seen together at the Bharat Jodo Yatra and Rahul Gandhi is trying to diffuse the situation at least for now.

KC Venugopal, general secretary of the Congress who held the hands of both the leaders, said, “We are united. Here Ashok Ji and Sachin Pilot Ji said that the Congress party in Rajasthan is united.”

Chhattisgarh

In 2018, the Congress swept the majority, winning 68 seats in the 90-member Assembly and ending the 15-year rule of the BJP, which was decimated to 15 seats. The ruling Congress retained the Bhanupratappur Assembly seat in the recently held polls.

Madhya Pradesh

The Congress ended the BJP’s 15-year rule in 2018, securing 114 seats in the 230-member Assembly and forming the government with Independent lawmakers. However, two years later, Shivraj Singh Chouhan returned to power after 22 Congress MLAs including Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the party to join the BJP.

Karnataka

The BJP emerged as the largest party in 2018 but failed to get a majority in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly. Later, Congress and Janata Dal (S) entered into a coalition to form the government under HD Kumarasamy as chief minister. However, 14 months later, more than a dozen MPs resigned as ruling coalition lawmakers, leading to the collapse of the Kumaraswamy government. In July 2019, BS Yediyurappa returned as the chief minister once again. Last year in July, Yediyurappa resigned from the post and was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai.

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Telangana

Telangana Rashtra Samithi K Chandrashekhar Rao has won the last two assembly elections. The TRS (now called Bharatha Rashtra Samithi) has recently secured the Munugode seat in high quality polls. The BJP has made inroads in Telangana and has given a tough fight to the TRS in the Munugode battle while the Congress party’s position is declining.

The BJP’s vote share has increased over the past few years after winning the first bypoll (Dubakka seat) in 2020. Eatala Rajender’s rebel TRS who defected to the BJP won on the lotus symbol in Huzurabad bypoll 2021.

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TRIPURA

BJP swept to power in Tripura winning 35 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections. But the difference in vote margin between the BJP and its challenger Left was less than 2% in the 60-member Assembly. The BJP replaced Biplab Deb as chief minister with Manik Saha, a strategy it has used in several other states to defeat anti-incumbency. The party has recently revised the organization at the state level, setting up 30 panels to take care of polling duties.

The BJP’s ties with its key ally – the tribal outfit Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) have come under pressure and a decision is yet to be taken on whether the alliance would continue. Besides the Congress, the Left and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the BJP also faces a threat from Tipra Motha who secured a landslide victory in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

MEGHALAYA

In 2018, the Congress emerged as the single largest party but failed to get a majority in the 60-member assembly. The BJP, which won only 2 seats, joined hands with the National People’s Party (NPP) to form the government in the state. But this time, NPP supremo and chief minister Conrad Sangma announced that his party would contest the 2023 elections alone.

The Trinamool Congress, which failed to open accounts in the last polls, is also trying to make inroads in Meghalaya. TMC President Mamata Banerjee and her party General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited the state on a 3-day tour.

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NAGALAND

BJP entered into an alliance with Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) ahead of Nagaland polls 2018 and formed the government. According to India Today, BJP is planning to field candidates in 20 constituencies and support NDPP candidates in 40 more in the 2023 elections.

Last month, three Nagaland BJP district presidents switched to the Janata Dal (US). Another headache for the BJP-led alliance is the demand for a separate state by seven tribes when Nagaland’s 16 districts are carved out.

MIZORAM

In October this year, Mizoram BJP chief Vanlalhmuaka announced that his party will contest all 40 assembly seats in Mizoram in the 2023 elections. Currently, the Mizo National Front government is in power. The ruling Zoramthanga party won 26 out of 40 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections and decimated the Congress by 5. The BJP also opened its account in Mizoram for the first time in 2018. The MNF is a part of both the NDA at the Center and in. BJP led NEDA in the region.

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