Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday won power for the first time in the northeastern state of Assam, a victory that will help his government recover some reform momentum after poll losses last year.
Grabbing power in Assam, one of five states electing new legislatures, is a sign that the BJP is expanding its political influence beyond its traditional heartland.
It also meant a bruising day for the main opposition Congress Party, which has blocked economic reforms in parliament but now looks an increasingly marginalised force after defeats in Assam and the southern state of Kerala.
In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress crushed the opposition while Tamil Nadu’s All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam proved exit polls wrong by retaining power in assembly elections.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front made a comeback in Kerala amid a washout in West Bengal.
The Congress was the worst hit in the five-state election, losing power both in Assam, which it had ruled for 15 long years, and Kerala, where it was confident of winning its second term.
The Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance was, however, ahead of the ruling All India NR Congress in Puducherry.
The BJP also made history in Kerala where its veteran O Rajagopal, 86, was elected from Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram. He will be the first ever BJP member in the Kerala assembly.
“Heartiest congratulations to Assam BJP... and leaders for the exceptional win. This win is historic,” Modi said on Twitter, after a polarising campaign in an underdeveloped state rife with ethnic and religious tension.
State elections are especially important for Modi’s party because state legislators elect members of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, where reforms including a landmark tax bill are stuck because it does not have a majority.
Congress said it would continue to block the goods and services tax legislation in parliament unless Modi agreed to its conditions.
The BJP will hope a weakened Congress will make it easier to persuade regional parties to back his reforms.
Capital Economics said that while Modi still faced an uphill battle getting his legislation through parliament, the results had improved the prospects slightly.
“The upshot is that the outlook for economic reforms has brightened a touch,” said Singapore-based Shilan Shah.
The results will also boost the BJP’s confidence ahead of an election next year in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, that is a must-win if Modi is ever to realise his hope of controlling both houses of parliament.
Modi, 65, stormed to power in 2014 with a promise of jobs and growth for India’s 1.3bn people.
But the failure to pass reforms including the biggest revenue shake-up since independence has dented his party’s reputation.
The prime minister took a less prominent role in this year’s elections after a bad loss in a November poll in the eastern state of Bihar.
His party also lost in the capital New Delhi last year.
Modi’s party has invested significant political capital to make inroads into opposition strongholds, and increased its tiny seat share in West Bengal.
“This expansion for the BJP comes at a time when the Congress is shrinking, even though they have different social constituencies,” said political analyst Ashok Malik Malik, a fellow with New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank.
“And now, the BJP is the only pan-India national party, which the Congress once used to be.”
The BJP mounted a fierce campaign in tea-growing Assam, promising to support indigenous rights and crack down on illegal immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Migrants have long been accused of illegally entering the state from Bangladesh and grabbing land, causing tensions with local people and sporadic outbreaks of communal violence.
India’s seven northeastern states, joined to the rest of the country by a narrow sliver of land, are culturally distinct from the rest of the country and have a long history of separatist insurgencies.
“People were fed up and they wanted a change...that’s why this time they’ve voted for BJP and its alliance partners,” said Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP’s Assam chief ministerial candidate.
Jubilant supporters of Tamil Nadu’s popular Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram gathered outside her house to celebrate, many of them painted in the colours of the state flag.
The former movie star known as “Amma” has long enjoyed a huge following in Tamil Nadu where she has won three terms as chief minister since 1991.
The 68-year-old has earned loyalty with a series of populist schemes including giving away gold, goats and kitchen appliances at election time, but has also drawn accusations of corruption and an autocratic governing style.
This year, her AIADMK party’s election manifesto promises included free Wi-Fi at public places, laptops for students, free cell phones and minimum units of free electricity every month.
There were equally colourful scenes in West Bengal’s capital Kolkata, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s supporters chanted slogans and daubed their faces in her party’s colour, green.