Over to Maharashtra, Jharkhand

Two upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand have become crucial for the future political direction of the country. More so, after the outcome of the polls in Haryana and J&K. In the latter two elections, the BJP staged a comeback of sorts by winning Haryana and becoming the second largest party in J&K. The saffron party has thus proved wrong the political observers who had written the party off after it failed to secure majority in the parliament polls. Haryana and J&K performances have put the BJP back in the reckoning.

Congress, on the other hand, has once again faltered. The party’s failure, both in Haryana and J&K,  have yet again arrested its political momentum. It has failed to build on its reasonably good performance in the general election. Particularly so, in Haryana where it was expected to get a landslide majority. So, elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand are a fresh test for the party. In the event of a loss in the two states, Congress’ return to the political centre stage at the national level will become even more daunting.

The fate of the INDIA bloc also hinges on the outcome in Maharashtra. Maha Vikas Aghadi, the alliance of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and the Udhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is poised to do well in the state. The INDIA bloc has decided to contest the Jharkhand assembly election together. The Congress-JMM alliance will field candidates in 70 of 81 seats. The JMM-led alliance is confident of retaining power in the state.

It would be interesting to see how the BJP is going to fare in the two states. Or for that matter how the Congress would perform. Although, Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a promising leader over the past year, he is struggling to maintain consistency. The BJP, on the other hand, has demonstrated that it has the capacity to bounce back from any setback. Ultimately, the results will determine whether Congress can regain lost ground or if the BJP's momentum will carry it further toward political dominance.