First phase Jharkhand elections(summary)

With the battle lines drawn between incumbent BJP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance, Jharkhand goes to polls. The polling in the first phase for 13 constituencies which started at 7 AM ended at 3 PM. Around 62.87 percent of votes were cast till 3 pm on Saturday in the first phase of Jharkhand assembly elections according to officials, it may go up some percentage since voters coming in at 3 pm are also allowed to vote. A total of 37,83,055 electorate exercised their franchise which comprises of 18,01,356 women and five third-gender voters in phase 1 across six districts.13 constituencies which went to polls come under Naxal hit areas which are  Chatra, Gumla, Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa, and Bhawanathpur. Hence the Naxal violence was envisioned, the security was beefed up accordingly but some reports stated, Naxals blew a bridge in Gumla district where no casualties are reported. Reported clashes between two groups was recorded in Daltonganj assembly constituency, it is said police calmed the situation and the polling continued as usual. Besides these intermittent incidents, polling in phase 1 was overall smooth. In 2014 majority of seats were won by BJP, in the assembly constituencies of 1 phase. This time curbing Naxal violence being an election issue, both Bjp and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance are eyeing for these 13 constituencies. Jharkhand CM claiming to have curbed the Naxal menace, have to be seen how this claim goes with the voters. With Election Commission doing its duty well, the whole process was a smooth exercise with some violent incidents. To conclude, Jharkand went to polls in a peaceful manner, whole exercise was well construed with some violent incidents.No casualties were recorded in these incidents. The voter turnout lags behind the overall voter turnout in 2014 by 3 percent, but it's just a 1 phase more 4 phases are yet to come. 

POLITICAL SITUATION IN INDIA

From the times of the past to now, the political situation went from instability to stability. I feel at present with a full majority government at the helm, the political situation is very stable. With PM Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs, in his second term political graph is a stable curve. With the supreme court giving important judgments of Ayodya and rafale, which calmed every political party. The peaceful political situation at present, some credit must go to SC. The burning issues that made a political uproar in previous times, with the SC judgments (rafale judgment) became a peaceful environment. Some controversial bills like Article 370(which takes the power of the independent constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and make Jammu and Kashmir a union territory), which created political ripples and made somewhat political uproar at the start but because of center planning the situation well became calm and it's stable now. The issue where the opposition is trying to find chinks in the armor is, the government is marking the bills as money bills and passing it in Lok sabha so that they can bipartisan the discussion time. At present, the opposition is trying to exploit the situation. If we see in parts of India, states like Karnataka and at present Maharastra are making the overall political situation unstable,  Maharastra is under president rule, the infighting between BJP and shiv sena created somewhat political instability which caused shiv sena leaving BJP. This state at present creating a somewhat political unstable environment in India, previously Karnataka was the state which created some instability in the otherwise calm political Indian environment, with SC giving disqualified MLA to participate in Karnataka elections, the situation in Karnataka which created political ripples all over India is tending to a stable state. To sum up, the political situation is mostly stable and the due credit goes to our supreme court for giving good judgments which provided and created a peaceful political situation.

Jharkhand election

With 81 Assembly constituencies Jharkand goes for polls, from November 30 to December 20.Election commission announcing its 5-phase voting schedule for Jharkhand. Jharkhand turns out to be a slugfest between BJP  and Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) alliance. The incumbent chief minister Raghubar Das after providing a stable government in a rather unstable political situation till then in Jharkhand. Tribal population in resource-rich Jharkhand is 26.3 percent of the state population, the vote of tribals will be the deciding factor in this election. With his rather unpopular image among tribals because of tenancy act(which provides private companies to acquire land from tribals) and the mergers of small government schools into big(Which made small schools in tribal land inaccessible to tribals), the incumbent CM Raghubar Das had gone through a lot of protests from the tribal communities. Being a non-tribal and became unpopular among tribals is a factor in this election.BJP going solo in this elections without its Allie, All Jharkhand Students Union(AJSU) can disturb its tribal votes. Although BJP has done very well in LOK SABHA polls in the state, it is the only ray of hope. With showing of BJP in Maharashtra and Haryana, congress in an optimistic mood trying to strengthen its hold in the state. With the positive moves by the central government by removing 370 articles can appease Jharkhand educated class to vote for BJP. With All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in the race, it can be analyzed if it cut through the Muslim base of congress it can help BJP.AIMIM can be a spoiler for Congress and allies. With its tail up congress and its allies are stronger this time, at least it has some brightest prospect with the mistakes of the incumbent government. After the Loksabha elections win, the BJP government started to appease tribals in its last minute's effects by launching 462 Eklavya Model Residential Schools, it is yet to be seen if its enough to churn votes in their favor. Jharkhand government has done a reasonable work on choking Naxal violence, is definitely a strong point but if it turns out into votes is yet to be seen. If the Loksabha elections trend is anything to go by, it favors an incumbent government but I feel it needs AJSU. I conclude,  there is opposition towards the incumbent government, how much it dents its vote is to be seen, the infighting with AJSU can dent its tribal votes. Overall, I feel it will not be a cakewalk for BJP.