BJP to rule 12 states on its own, Congress down to 3

New Delhi: With the BJP heading towards a victory in three of the four states that went to polls recently, it will now be in power in 12 states on its own, while the number of states ruled by the Congress will come down to three after the party's electoral defeats in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will now account for almost half of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, while only two states, accounting for less than 50 Lok Sabha seats, are now governed by parties not aligned with either the NDA or the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) of opposition parties.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with its governments in Delhi and Punjab, is the third-biggest national party now.

The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, and all set to retain Madhya Pradesh and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress.

Besides, the saffron party is also part of the ruling coalition in four states -- Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim.

The Congress will now be in power in only three states on its own -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.

The grand old party is also part of the ruling coalitions in Bihar and Jharkhand and an ally of the DMK, which is in power in Tamil Nadu. However, the Congress is not part of the Tamil Nadu government.

Sunday's poll results also consolidated the AAP's position as a major political party, making it the second-biggest opposition party with governments in two states.

'After today's results, Aam Aadmi Party emerges as the largest opposition party in north India with 2 state governments -- Punjab and Delhi,' party leader Jasmine Shah said on X.

There are six national parties currently -- BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), CPI(M), National People's Party (NPP) and AAP.

The next round of Assembly polls will be held in 2024. Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh will go to polls next year while the Assembly election is also pending in Jammu and Kashmir.

As several MPs contested the Assembly polls in this round, those seats in the Lok Sabha are expected to get vacant. However, since the general election will be held next year, no bypoll will be announced even if the MPs vacate their seats after being elected as MLAs.