BJP National Vice President Raghubar Das celebrating his win in the Jharkhand assembly elections in Jamshedpur (Press Trust of India photo)
The BJP is set to form the next government in Jharkhand. The party took an early lead as counting began today, and hours later the only suspense was on whether its alliance would manage to cross the halfway mark at 41 in the 87-member assembly.
The party and its ally, the All Jharkhand Students' Union, ended up winning 43 seats -- a massive gain of 20 seats from five years ago. The BJP won 37 seats, the AJSU six. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which was in power, won 18 seats. Its former ally Congress was wiped out, winning only in 8.
The new Chief Minister is likely to be Raghubar Das, the vice-president of the state party. If selected, he would be the first non-tribal man at the helm of a state which has around 32% tribal population. (Read:
Raghubar Das May Get the Top Job in Jharkhand)
Asked about his prospects for the top job, Mr Das said, "The party's Parliamentary Board and the honorable Prime Minister will take a decision on this. But I wish to assure the people of Jharkhand and Jamshedpur that I'd always be there to serve them." he added.
Chief minister Hemant Soren has already sent his resignation to Governor Syed Ahmed.
Among the key headlines in the state is the number of former chief ministers who were felled in this election: Babulal Marandi from both Giridih and Raj Dhanwar seats, Madhu Koda from Majhgaon, Arjun Munda from Kharsawan and outgoing Chief Minister Hemant Soren of JMM from Dumka. Mr Soren, however, won in Barhait, the other seat he contested from.
The state has had nine governments and three stints of President's Rule since it was created in 2000.
"We will fulfill Atalji's dream and take Jharkhand ahead on the road of development," said BJP spokesman and central minister Prakash Javadekar.
In its election campaign, the BJP had promised a stable government in the state. It projected no one as its chief ministerial candidate and built its campaign around Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his development agenda. The PM has addressed several rallies in the state.
"Absolute majority is very important for the people of Jharkhand, for development," said senior BJP leader and former chief minister Arjun Munda. "I agree there hasn't been enough development, in spite of us being in power too. I hope we will do well now and we will take this state from being developing to developed."
The Congress has alleged that the BJP's victory does not live up to the "hype". "The Modi wave is missing, the results show the hype has not delivered," said Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha. Exit polls had predicted a bigger win for the BJP. Seven months ago, in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 12 of the 14 parliamentary seats in the state.
After Maharashtra and Haryana, this is the third state the BJP has bagged since its victory in the Lok Sabha polls May. The party desperately needs to boost its numbers in Rajya Sabha, where it is in minority, which makes it difficult to push through key bills and pursue the reform agenda.