Landslide for Modi’s party in must-win state
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s party won a landslide victory in India’s most important battleground state yesterday, in a personal triumph that will strengthen his claim to a second term as national leader.
Wresting control of Uttar Pradesh is a ringing endorsement of Modi’s stewardship of Asia’s third-largest economy, following his high-risk decision last November to scrap high-value banknotes to rein in corruption.
The Election Commission of India said Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won a clear majority. With the results almost complete, the BJP had as many as 312 of 403 seats in the state assembly, the biggest majority in the state since 1977.
“I give my heartfelt thanks to the people of Uttar Pradesh. This is a historic victory for the BJP; a victory for development and good governance,” Modi told his 28 million Twitter followers.
Investors hope victory will embolden Modi to pursue more reforms, including the launch of a national sales tax, to boost growth.
“The outcome of this election will enable Modi to sharpen his winning anticorruption and improved governance policies as he begins to position himself for the 2019 general election,” wrote analysts Shailesh Kumar and Sasha Riser-Kositsky of macro advisory firm Eurasia Group.
Modi threw himself into the Uttar Pradesh campaign, addressing dozens of rallies and turning the contest into a test of his popularity and his radical move to abolish big banknotes worth 86 per cent of cash in circulation.
Celebrations erupted outside BJP offices in the state capital Lucknow and Delhi, with party workers dancing and splashing each other with paint in keeping with the Holi festival of colours taking place this weekend.
There were four other election results yesterday. The BJP won overwhelmingly in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand but lost control of the coastal state of Goa. In north-eastern Manipur the Congress party beat the BJP into second but was short of a majority. Congress took Punjab, offering some consolation to Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent to the party leadership.