A resurgent Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi made significant gains on Tuesday in three politically crucial states in the Assembly elections. The reverses for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Hindi heartland has thrown open the 2019 Lok Sabha elections which, until a few months ago, appeared to be a cakewalk for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party.
The assembly polls held for five states — Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh — also saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) recording a landslide win for a second consecutive term and the Mizo National Front (MNF) scripting a spectacular victory, dislodging the Congress in its last bastion in the North East, to return to power after 10 years.
Here is the final tally from all the states.
Chhattisgarh
The Congress will form the next government in Chhattisgarh, ending the BJP's 15-year reign in the state.
Here are the final numbers:
Madhya Pradesh
The Congress, which was locked in a see-saw battle with the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, has emerged as the single-largest party with 114 seats.
Mizoram
The Mizo National Front (MNF) bounced back to power by winning 26 seats in the 40-member assembly, a gain of 21 seats since 2013. The Congress managed to bag only five seats compared to 34 seats it won in the 2013 assembly elections.
Rajasthan
The Congress has emerged as the single-largest party in Rajasthan, winning 99 seats, while the BJP got 73. The focus in Rajasthan is who the Congress will now choose as the chief minister — Ashok Gehlot or Sachin Pilot.
Telangana
TRS won the assembly election by a landslide. The Congress had just 19 seats in its kitty, two less that what it won in the last polls, while the TDP could win only two against its tally of 15 seats in 2014.
(With PTI inputs)