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Home > Election > About this election
If Godhra had not happened last February, Gujarat would have been the
focus of the current round of assembly elections, with the Bharatiya
Janata Party fighting to retain what was seen as its last bastion.
But events turned out a little differently. Gujarat, convulsed by some of
the worst riots in independent India, went to the polls two months ahead
of schedule and returned the BJP to power with a two-thirds majority. And
now it's the turn of the Congress to find its back pinned firmly to the
wall.
For the first time since the 1999 general election, the BJP is on the rise
again, while the Congress, which had won a slew of assembly elections
until Gujarat, faces a crisis of confidence.
This is why the elections in Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and
Tripura have acquired greater importance. While the states themselves may
be small, they are seen as an indicator of the way the political wind is
blowing in India today.
If the BJP's resurgence continues and the Congress falters again, it could
set the stage for a do-or-die battle for India's grand old party later
this year when several large and politically significant states, most of
them Congress-ruled, elect their new governments.
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