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ELECTIONS '96

Congress-UF may steal BJP's thunder

The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are poised to win nearly 250 seats in the fourth successive hung Lok Sabha, according to the latest counting trends.

Of the 195 results announced in the 543-member House till now, the BJP and its allies have won 86 seats (leading in 246 seats), the Congress and allies 74 (167) and the United Front 25 (97) and others 10 (18).

However, as the trends indicate, the Congress and the United Front together may overtake the saffron brigade in the race for supremacy.

Congress's Sharad Pawar and Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet have already told the media that the UF and the Congress should sink their differences to keep the BJP out. However, it is still not clear which of the UF partners would be willing to support the Congress. The UF core committee is meeting on Friday to chalk out its strategy.

Despite victories in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and impressive performance in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, majority may elude the BJP due to the reverses suffered by it in Maharashtra and Rajasthan at the hands of the Congress. The party has also suffered heavily in Harayana, where former deputy prime minister Devi Lal's Haryana Lok Dal has registered spectacular gains.

The trends so far indicate that anti-incumbency factor was uppermost on the voters's minds in states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. However, this was not so in Punjab -- where the BJP-Akali Dal established a clear lead -- and, to a little extent, in Andhra Pradesh, where the Telugu Desam Party seems to have succeeded in stopping the Congress and the BJP from making major gains.

The major reverse appears to be in Tamil Nadu, where every single poll spoke of a sweep by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Tamil Manila Congress alliance, now ruling the state. Contrary to that perception, it is the BJP-All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam combine that has shot into the lead.

The UF, on the whole, received a drubbing with its principal components -- the Janata Dal, the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Tamil Maanila Congress -- putting up a poor show in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Bihar.

UNI

Elections '98

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