If the initial trends in the results of the elections to the five state assemblies are a barometer for the 2019 Lok Sabha, the BJP-led NDA will almost surely be voted out of power by next May.

For a change, the exit polls conducted by various media outlets and poll agencies have turned out to be right with the Congress party set to return in Rajasthan and a sweep for the TRS in Telengana. They have turned out to be almost right in MP and Chattisgarh where the Grand Old party is ahead of the ruling BJP, though marginally.

It doesn’t take a political analyst to say that the results of the assembly elections will have a direct impact on the country’s political landscape ahead of the general elections.

A favourable outcome for the Congress will establish the political stature of its president, Rahul Gandhi. He led from the front and has now stamped his mark. The BJP, so far aggressive, is for a change on the defensive.

—India Legal Bureau