December 12
The assembly election results for Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have come in the Congress’s favour but they aren’t good enough to sail the grand old party across the half-way mark on its own. In both the states, the Congress has missed the magic number by a whisker. In Rajasthan, the Congress fell short by one seat and in Madhya Pradesh by two seats. It now will have to stitch alliance with other opposition parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, CPI(M) and rope in as many Independents as possible.
The situation for the BJP is more worrisome in Madhya Pradesh where the party has just managed to go ahead of the seats won by the BJP. Of the 230 seats in the state, the Congress has won 114, while the BJP has 109. The half-way mark or the magic number required to form government is 116.
The Congress will now have to gain support of the BSP (which has two seats), the SP (which has one seat) and try to rope in as many of the four Independents that have this time. Besides this, the Congress also faces the tough task of keeping its house in order and prevent its MLAs from deserting it and joining the BJP.
Meanwhile BJP ally, Shiv Sena joining ally Shiv Sena the Opposition’s chorus of slamming the Modi government and the BJP has said that the voters have thrown away what they did not want; they rose above frivolous things and voted courageously.