BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won an absolute majority in the Maharashtra assembly polls and the BJP emerged as the single largest party in Haryana in the first major electoral battle after the Lok Sabha elections this year.
The results of assembly by-polls for 51 seats across 17 state sent different messages to the political parties and most of the seats were won by the ruling parties.
The BJP, which is six short of the majority mark in the 90-member Haryana assembly, is confident of forming the government in the state. The Congress has also urged all opposition parties to come together against the BJP.
The assembly elections were the first after the repeal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP vociferously raised the issues of national security and development during the polls while the opposition sought to keep the campaign focused on issues such as "economic slowdown" and "job losses".
While BJP and Shiv Sena returned to power in Maharashtra with a performance that was apparently short of their expectations, the NCP increased its numbers as compared to the 2014 elections. The Congress slipped to the fourth position in a state where it was once the dominant player.
The NCP also won the prestigious by-poll to Satara Lok Sabha seat, where its candidate Shriniwas Patil defeated BJP's Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji. Bhosale had left the NCP and joined BJP last month. NCP chief Sharad Pawar had campaigned extensively in the state to boost the party's prospects.
The Congress put up a credible performance in Haryana even though it started its campaign late. In the by-polls, the party also won three of four seats in Punjab, the lone seats in Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry and Chhattisgarh, three of six seats in Gujarat and one of the two seats in Rajasthan.
The BJP won seven of 11 assembly by-poll seats in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh with three seats going to the Samajwadi Party and one to Apna Dal (Sonelal). In Bihar, the ruling NDA could win only one of five seats. The RJD won two seats and one seat each was won by AIMUM and independent.
The Congress won 31 seats in Haryana assembly and increased its vote share. The 11-month-old Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala also put up a good performance, winning 10 seats in its debut assembly poll.
The state has elected seven independents while one seat each has gone to the INLD and Haryana Lokhit Party.
BJP leaders termed the performance in the two states as "victory".
Sources said former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also helping in the formation of BJP-led government in the state. Haryana Lokhit Party MLA Gopal Kanda is expected to meet BJP leaders to express his support to the party and is reported to be in touch with five other MLAs.
The BJP finished with 40 seats, much less than its target of 75 seats and seven short of its 2014 tally.
Several of BJP's ministers lost the polls. Prominent among those who lost the polls are Captain Abhimanyu, OP Shankar, Ram Vilas Sharma, Kavita Jain, Krishna Lal Panwar and KK Bedi.
The BJP Parliamentary Board, which met here on Thursday evening authorised party chief Amit Shah to make all decisions regarding the two states.
Sources said Shah has been authorised to appoint party observers for the two states. They said the BJP-led government will be formed in both the states and the two chief ministers - Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra and Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana - will continue on their posts.
Though the BJP has got lesser number of seats in the two states as compared to 2014 elections, the party has created history. It will be the first time that Maharashtra will have the BJP chief minister for the second successive term in office.
BJP has won 104 seats in the state and is leading on one, Congress won 43 and was leading on one, NCP won 54 and Shiv Sena won 56 seats. The BJP had won 122 seats on its own in the last assembly polls when it had not fought in alliance with Shiv Sena.
The NCP and Congress had also fought separately and won 41 and 42 seats in the last assembly polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed party workers on Thursday, thanked the people for putting their faith in the BJP in Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls and lauded the performance of the two chief ministers.
He termed BJP's performance in Haryana as "exceptional," adding that "there have been fewer instances of winning again after completing a five-year term in the recent past."
In the assembly by-polls, the BJP won three of four seats in Assam with AIUDF also winning a seat. It won both seats in Himachal Pradesh and two of three seats in Sikkim.
In Kerala, Congress and CPI-M won two seats each while IUML won one seat. The lone seat in Arunachal Pradesh was won by an independent candidate.
The ruling AIADMK won both seats in Tamil Nadu, BJD won the lone seat in Odisha, TRS in Telangana and UDP in Meghalaya. LJP won the by-poll to the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat.
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