Seven years is a long time in politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the BJP to power at the Centre in 2014 with a comfortable majority, has been in the saddle for as many years. The fact that he was voted back to power in 2019 with a greater majority in the Lok Sabha was proof that his government\u2019s performance had been appreciated by the people as they voted overwhelmingly for his party. He had turned the anti-incumbency theory on its head. The government under him had notched up many achievements, the most important of them being the complete absence of scams and scandals which had ruined the image of the preceding UPA government.<\/p>\n
In the past seven years that Modi has been in power, the country has faced many challenges \u2013 including the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a disastrous impact on the economy. Handling the COVID crisis was not easy, as it also drained the economic resources of the country. Any other leader would have floundered and allowed the anti-incumbency mood against his government to set in. But Modi is made of sterner stuff. He battled valiantly and pulled the country out of the crisis.<\/p>\n
Though the overall impact of the Covid crisis on the economy has jolted a section of the people, there seems to be no significant erosion in the popularity of the Prime Minister and the party that he leads. Political forecasts being made about the outcome of the crucial assembly elections in five Indian states early next year should be seen in this perspective.<\/p>\n
The third ABP News-CVoter Battle for the States Tracker predicts close battles in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand, with BJP finally emerging victorious. According to the opinion poll, in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav remain the two leading candidates for the CM\u2019s post but Yogi seems set to stay in power with BJP likely to retain the state with anywhere between 212 and 224 seats in the 403-strong assembly.<\/p>\n
In Punjab, the repeal of farm laws and suspension of protests by the farmers promise to make the elections exciting. This month\u2019s Tracker puts AAP in the lead in the state with the incumbent Congress in the second position. This is going to be an extremely close battle with the state heading towards a hung Assembly with no party likely to cross the majority mark.<\/p>\n
In Uttarakhand, the BJP is consistently maintaining its lead position with 33 to 39 seats and seems set to retain power. The Congress is a close second with 29 to 35 seats, followed by AAP in a distant third with 1 to 3 seats.<\/p>\n
In Goa, BJP continues to remain the most popular party as it seems to be winning 17 to 21 seats. AAP and Congress are in a tight battle for the second spot with AAP winning 5 to 9 seats and Congress winning 4 to 8 seats.<\/p>\n
In Manipur, BJP is set to win a closely fought contest against Congress. The saffron party seems to be winning 29 to 33 seats, while Congress could win 23 to 27 seats.<\/p>\n
The balance, thus, clearly seems to be in favour of the BJP in most of these states going to the polls early next year. Punjab is the only state where it appears to be struggling, but much would depend on how the internal politics of the Congress plays out in the state and how big a factor former chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh, who has vowed to defeat the Congress, would prove to be. Clearly, it is advantage BJP in most of these five poll-bound states and the party has only the Prime Minister to thank for that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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