Sidharth Bhatia, founding editor of The Wire, discusses the implications of the election results and answers viewers’ questions.
In this video, Sidharth Bhatia, journalist, writer and founding editor at The Wire, analyses the results of the assembly elections of four Indian states – Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala – and union territory Puducherry.
Bhatia speaks about the fact that many of the results are contrary to what exit polls and commentators had predicted, and that in this context, Tamil Nadu has been the biggest surprise, with the same party – the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – being elected into power for a second consecutive term for the first time since 1984. He discusses the wins of the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, the Congress in Puducherry and the Left Democratic Front in Kerala, and what these victories mean for national politics in the coming months.
In addition to analysing the results, Bhatia also answers viewers’ questions on why the Left-Congress alliance in West Bengal did not work against the TMC, what the BJP’s presence in Kerala implies, why he thinks the results in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the highlights of the election season and more.
Also read Bhatia’s piece on six lessons from the 2016 assembly elections results.
Also watch: Hartosh Singh Bal and M.K. Venu’s Analysis of the Assembly Poll Results