The unexpected defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in three state elections this year partly reflects the failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's national government to deliver on its economic promises. But it also suggests that the country's main opposition party will be highly competitive in the 2019 general election.
NEW DELHI – The stunning victory this month of the opposition Indian National Congress in three elections to state assemblies – the local “parliaments” that decide who governs federal India’s 29 provincial units – is a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The elections’ outcome has dramatically upended Modi supporters’ complacent prediction that he would be easily re-elected to a second five-year term in the next general election, due before May 2019.
NEW DELHI – The stunning victory this month of the opposition Indian National Congress in three elections to state assemblies – the local “parliaments” that decide who governs federal India’s 29 provincial units – is a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The elections’ outcome has dramatically upended Modi supporters’ complacent prediction that he would be easily re-elected to a second five-year term in the next general election, due before May 2019.