Election results LIVE-Congress takes lead in Rajasthan, TRS in Telangana Results of elections held in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Mizoram will be declared today. Track our LIVE coverage on the Assembly polls 2018 counting of votes
Election results 2018 LIVE: Counting of votes has begun in five states where election results may hold clues to how Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might fare in Lok Sabha elections next year. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Mizoram went to the polls in November and December. TV exit polls on Friday predicted a Congress resurgence in northern India. All exit polls said Rajasthan was unlikely to break its 25-year-old habit of throwing out the incumbent government, with the Congress slated to win the state. Several exit polls predicted the BJP’s 15-year-rule in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh could also end. However, most exit polls indicated the Bahujan Samaj Party-Ajit Jogi alliance in Chhattisgarh might have hurt the Congress, with the BJP slated to win a fourth successive win in the mineral-rich state.A majority of the exit polls also predicted the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will retain the state and the electorate will boot out the 10-year-old Congress government in Mizoram.
Election experts consider it fallacious to extrapolate the Assembly poll results to predict the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections, but the verdict in the five states is likely to be interpreted as a barometer of the public mood for 2019. The results could also determine the political discourse, both of the government and Opposition, for the next few months as the winter session of Parliament begins on Tuesday. A senior leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday criticised the BJP for not fulfilling its promise of constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya and demanded the government pass a legislation to bypass courts—a statement seen as nudging the party towards its core Hindutva ideology before general elections next year.A better result will be a morale booster for the Congress and improve the political credentials of party president Rahul Gandhi who campaigned extensively in the five states.Shares marked their worst close in four weeks on Monday, based on exit polls predictions and fears of slowing global growth.
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