Elections in India in 2017

December 24, 2017 05:45 pm | Updated December 28, 2017 01:29 pm IST

PM Narendra Modi with outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee and President-elect Ram Nath Kovind during a book release at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

PM Narendra Modi with outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee and President-elect Ram Nath Kovind during a book release at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

2017 was a year in which saw a large part of the population turn up at polling booths and exercise their franchise. While in Gujarat, the incumbent BJP proved its might by retaining their seat of power, in most other states, they dislodged the ruling party, and with absolute majorities at that. The lone Congress win was in Punjab, with the ruling BJP-SAD combine out of the legislative assembly.

Here is a list of the major elections that India saw this year:

Presidential elections

Ram Nath Kovind was elected as President of India, getting 702,044 votes, while his opponent Meira Kumar got 367,314 votes. This presidential election had the highest-ever voter turnout of over 99 per cent. Of 771 MPs who had the right to vote, 756 cast their votes.

Vice presidential elections

Opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi lost to M. Venkaiah Naidu in the vice presidential elections. Mr. Naidu secured a total of 516 votes, and Mr. Gandhi 244 votes.Of those who didn’t exercise their franchise, Trinamool Congress Members had the largest block of absentees.

Uttar Pradesh

The BJP won the Assembly Election in Uttar Pradesh with 312 of 403 seats in their favour. The incumbent Samajwadi Party combine polled 54 seats, and the Bahujan Samaj Party won 19 seats. Yogi Adityanath was appointed as Chief Minister, a surprise choice who beat Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma to the top spot.

Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand too saw a saffron sweep with the BJP winning 57 of 70 seats. Trivendra Singh Rawat was chosen as the Chief Minister. Elected from the Doiwala constituency, Mr. Rawat is an erstwhile RSS pracharak who built a place for himself in national politics after he worked alongside Amit Shah in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Goa

Despite winning 17 of 40 seats in Goa, the Congress failed to make a move to form the government in Goa. This led to Congress MLAs shifting their alliance to the BJP, which had won only 13 seats. With a majority in hand, the BJP went on to form the government in Goa, even winning a trust vote in the Assembly to consolidate their position.

Punjab

The lone Congress win in all of 2017, the national Opposition party won 77 out of 117 seats. Capt. Amarinder Singh, who was sworn in as the Chief Minister, won the Patiala seat with highest margin of 52,407 votes as he defeated his nearest rival Balbir Singh of the AAP.

Manipur

In Manipur too, the BJP was quicker to act than the Congress, even with just 21 out of 60 seats in hand. Biren Singh, the Chief Minister, is a 56-year-old politician who has been a national-level footballer, served in the central paramilitary forces and also worked as an editor of a local newspaper.

Himachal Pradesh

The BJP beat incumbent Virbhadra Singh’s government in elections, winning 44 of 68 seats. The Chief Minister for Himachal Pradesh will be Jairam Thakur. The BJP’s chief ministerial candidate was defeated in the polls in the Sujanpur constituency.

Gujarat

For the sixth time in a row, the BJP retained power in Gujarat, but this time with a narrower margin. The incumbent party won 99 seats, and the Congress won 77 seats. Over 5.5 lakh voters in Gujarat voted for the NOTA option. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rallies in 34 districts over a period of 15 days, and to a large extent, helped the party stay in power. BJP retained Vijay Rupani and Nitin Patel as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat.

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