Jharkhand Elections 2014 Results: Will the state finally find political stability?

Only 14 years into existence and nine governments already - that tells you not everything is right with Jharkhand. [caption id=“attachment_1825807” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  People queue up to vote in Jharkhand. AFP.[/caption] Political instability has dogged the mineral-rich state ever since it was carved out of Bihar and it shows in all development indices. Perhaps the instability has to do a lot with the demographic composition of the state - there are too many tribal groups with loyalty divided among several political outfits, mostly local; the non-tribal local population and the settlers from outside don’t always have similar interests. Perhaps it is a result of the failure of the national parties to build a pan-Jharkhand presence with sustained political activity. Whatever the reason, the big issue in the assembly polls was whether the state will finally vote for a stable government. It will be clear in a few hours from now. End of regional parties? Will the assembly poll results mark the end of regional parties, at least the less significant ones, in Jharkhand? The high voter turnout - 66 per cent - indicates towards that. One of the biggest contributors to the political instability in the state has been the numbers of players involved in the earlier elections. Such has been the fragmentation of mandates here that even an independent candidate - Madhu Koda - was able to be the chief minister for two years. This time there are less number of high profile independent candidates. This means votes will go to established parties. If the trend in other assembly election results in the year are anything to go by, most of the votes will go to one party, throwing up a clear winner. So a stable government is expected. The early trends reflect that. The BJP is likely to live up to the poll predictions and emerge as the single largest party in Jharkhand. The party has taken the early lead in Jharkhand poll trends and is currently leading with 21 of 81 seats in the state. “People here could see that it is only BJP that can provide a stable government, Ravindra Rai,J’Khand BJP President told ANI News. According to the early leads as shown by CNN-IBN, BJP is leading in 40 seats, Congress in 3, JMM in 9, JVM in 3 and others in 2.