Assembly Poll Verdict Stuns BJP

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

The final results of Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls are yet to come, but the broad picture is clear enough. In Maharashtra the BJP’s loyal propagandists masquerading as psephologists had been predicting the party would make a clean sweep by winning about 230 to 240 seats. They have been found to have gone very wide of the mark. But they need not be either ashamed or apologetic. They have loyally served their paymasters.

In the event the BJP has ended up at 160 plus, with its ally Shiv Sena retaining its strongholds. If about a dozen and a half more seats could have been won by the Opposition, the BJP would have by now been licking its wounds and cooling its heels, sitting in the Opposition benches. In Haryana the BJP has been defeated decisively. It has won 30 plus seats in a House of 90, well short of the halfway mark.

And all this has happened despite the immense financial resources of the BJP, despite