The voice for change was heard the loudest in Andhra Pradesh, where Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress scored an unprecedented landslide victory in the Lok Sabha as well as Assembly polls. The overwhelming mandate comes on top of rejection of N. Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam. This is not only an anti-incumbency wave, but clear disapproval of Mr Naidu’s grandstanding in national politics, where he pitched himself as a would-be kingmaker in a non-BJP formation. The people may have felt this ambition needless while the new state still struggles to build its capital. As a fresh face in the power game, even if he's the son of a popular former CM, Jagan has made his point when seeking an opportunity for a new force in the state, with extended campaigning and padayatras. Not even Naveen Patnaik’s retention of power in Odisha for a record fifth term compares with Jagan’s sweeping performance.
One of the regional parties routed or marginalised in the nationwide polls, Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK lost almost every one of the 37 seats J. Jayalalithaa had won for it in the 2014 general election. The people, however, seemed to be making a clear distinction between national issues and state politics as they seemed to give the ruling AIADMK a lifeline in terms of nine to 10 seats it needs to prove its majority in the Assembly of 234 seats. The local party’s alliance with the BJP seems to have put off people in the state. In the crucial border state of Arunachal Pradesh, the national BJP which is also the ruling party, seemed headed to retain power, defying anti-incumbency. A different story may be developing in Sikkim where the opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha was leading from the ruling party Sikkim Democratic Front as results were trickling in late on May 23.
