Assembly Elections 2018 Results highlights: Supporters of Congress party celebrate after poll results at the party headquarters in New Delhi (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)
Rajasthan, MP, Mizoram, Telangana, Chhattisgarh Election 2018 highlights: Bringing an end to its prolonged electoral losses since 2014, the Congress ousted the BJP to win Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. In Madhya Pradesh, the nail-biting contest reached its finale this morning after the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 114 seats and has approached the Governor to stake a claim to the government. Both Mayawati-led BSP and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party have offered support to the Congress. Three-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan conceded defeat and has tendered his resignation.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress is back after 15 years with an absolute majority, while in Rajasthan the party fell two seats short of crossing the 101-majority mark. The reverses for the BJP in the Hindi heartland threw wide open the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which until a few months ago appeared to be in its grip. Follow Assembly Elections 2018 Results LIVE updates
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and CM candidate Bhupesh Baghel (left) during party meeting in Raipur, Chattisgarh. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Mizo National Front (MNF) president Zoramthanga's oath-taking ceremony will be held on Saturday, say protocol department officials. The MNF returned to power in Mizoram by bagging 26 seats of the 40-member state legislature.
'Rahul Gandhi will take a decision tomorrow on who will be Rajasthan CM,' said Congress MLA Parsadi Lal Meena. The Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the state on Tuesday's vote count, winning 99 seats.
At a meeting in Bhopal, newly-elected Congress MLAs unanimously passed a resolution authorising Congress president Rahul Gandhi to name the new legislature party leader. "The resolution was moved by senior MLA Arif Aqueel and seconded by other MLAs. They passed it unanimously, authorising the Congress president to nominate the legislature party leader," state Congress media cell chairperson, Shobha Oza told reporters. Gandhi will be conveyed the decision of the newly-elected MLAs, after which he will name the CLP leader.
Congress leader Shobha Ozha announced that MLAs made a unanimous decision that party president Rahul Gandhi will decide who will be the Chief Minister in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are the likely contenders for the CM's post.
In a press conference today after conceding defeat to the Congress, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he congratulated Kamal Nath on his party’s performance in the state elections, after deciding not to stake claim to form the government. “It’s true we didn’t get the majority (in the elections), and if anyone is responsible for the defeat, it is Shivraj Singh Chouhan,” the BJP stalwart said.
Recounting his party’s accomplishments in the 15 years, Chouhan thanked the people for allowing him and the party to serve them and said he is indebted to the state. Now in the opposition with 109 MLAs, Chouhan said the BJP is strong and responsible.
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Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has described her party’s return to power in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, as a “Congress victory over the BJP’s negative politics”. Meanwhile, in a sign of burgeoning opposition unity, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati extended support to the Congress in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, while the Samajwadi Party indicated that the party could join a grand alliance of opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2019 polls.
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After handing over his resignation letter to the Governor, Shivraj Singh Chouhan told reporters that despite getting more number of votes than Congress the ruling party got less number of seats. In 2008, the BJP’s vote share was 38 per cent yet it got 143 seats. "It’s true that we did not get a majority," he said adding that the party did not stake claim to form the government because it lacked the numbers.
Insulating the Central leadership, he said the Central government supported the state government and both governments implemented several pro-people schemes. "If despite that we lost it means the blame goes to me. Maybe I lacked something," he said.
Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said the election results of three key states - Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan - have destroyed the "untenable theory of the Modi magic" and expressed hope that the saffron party's debacle would propel the opposition parties to bond better for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha polls, reports PTI.
BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav stands by Shivraj Singh Chouhan even in party’s loss at the state elections.
Three-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan tendered his resignation to Governor Anandiben Patel earlier today and took complete responsibility of the party's defeat in the state. "I have submitted my resignation. The complete responsibility of (BJP's) defeat (in MP) is only mine," Chouhan told reporters outside Raj Bhavan. "Party workers worked hard, people also gave their love to us but we are short of numbers despite getting more
votes. I have congratulated Kamal Nath ji (state Congress president)," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi today elected K Chandrasekhar Rao as its party chief paving the way for his return as the Chief Minister of Telangana for the second time. The newly-elected MLAs met at the TRS headquarters and the decision was taken unanimously, the party sources said. In the assembly elections, the TRS won 88 seats in the 119-member House. Rao was re-elected from Gajwel in Siddipet district by a margin of 58,290 votes.
Samajwadi Party chief and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has extended his support to Congress. "We welcome the mandate. We didn't perform well but we would like to thank the public of Madhya Pradesh for supporting us. We have decided to support Congress in MP. BJP has spread hatred and deceived the public, they will be given an answer in Lok Sabha elections," Yadav was quoted as saying by ANI. The Samajwadi Party won one seat in the recently concluded state polls.
BSP chief Mayawati said that her party will extend support to the Congress to form the government in Madhya Pradesh to 'keep BJP out of power'. "We fought elections to keep the BJP out of power ... We do not agree with the philosophy of the Congress. But to keep the BJP out of power, we will extend it our support," she said in a statement. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said that if the need arises, the BSP will support the Congress in Rajasthan to form the government, reported PTI.
Congress legislature party (CLP) in Rajasthan Wednesday passed a resolution authorising party president Rahul Gandhi to decide the name of the chief minister. AICC General Secretary Avinash Pande and party's observer K C Venugopal sought the individual opinion of party MLAs in the meeting, which is still underway at the state Congress office in Jaipur.
State Congress chief Sachin Pilot and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, both front-runners for the post, are present in the meeting.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah congratulated Rahul Gandhi for Congress' gains in the elections and also pinned the blame of BJP's losses on PM Modi. "Congratulations to the Congress & especially to its leader @RahulGandhi for the great success in these elections. He took the blame & the brickbats for all the set backs & now deserves the credit for these victories. It was nice to have something to celebrate on counting day. And for my friends in the BJP - you can’t blame @RahulGandhi for losing elections & not apply the same yardstick to Modi ji. If those were Rahul’s losses then these 3 heartland state losses belong to the Prime Minister & his policies," he tweeted