WHILE the poll results for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab are clear and unambiguous the results in Manipur and Goa are mixed. However, in both states the Congress has emerged as the Party with the single largest majority. In the ‘first past the post’ electoral system the party that secures the most seats is called by the Governor of the state to form the Government. In the case of Goa and Manipur the chain of events have moved swiftly and the electoral arithmetic transformed so radically that before the Congress could count ten the BJP has already executed its master stroke. Ram Madhav who oversaw the Manipur elections wasted no time to get his flock of 21 MLAs together and also to round up 4 of the Nationalist Peoples’ Party (NPP) MLAs, another 4 MLAs of the Nagaland Peoples’ Front (NPF) and one MLA of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to cobble up a 30 member coalition front. It is learnt that some more MLAs are likely to defect to the BJP-led coalition. Meanwhile, the Manipur Chief Minister, Okram Ibobi Singh has resigned but is trying his best to woo some MLAs to his side, which is a bit of a tall order. Whoever is invited to form the Government in Manipur or Goa will have to prove their majority first before the Governor followed by a floor test in the Assembly.
In Goa out of 40 seats, Congress got 17 and the BJP 13. The Goa Chief Minister Parsekar was booted out and in a sense the verdict could be translated as one against the BJP. But here too the BJP moved quickly and despatched Defence Minister, Manohar Parikkar who evidently left his people in the lurch when he gave up his chief ministership and went to Delhi as Defence Minister, to stich up a coalition. People of Goa appear to trust Parikkar and his governance. The results might not have been what they are today had he been at the helm of affairs there. Now he has been assigned the task of once again strengthening the BJP in Goa. There are arguments galore that the governors of both Manipur and Goa have violated the sanctity of parliamentary democracy by inviting the party that came second in the polls to form the government. But what is also emerging very clearly is the leadership vacuum in the Congress Party which left it fumbling instead of gearing itself for the kill. The BJP’s slogan of a Congress Mukth India is threatening to become a reality.