2023: A year of high-stakes political battles

As 2023 approaches, the coming year will be extremely pivotal, with multiple high-stakes political contests scheduled to take place that will likely set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

At least nine states, ranging from the northeast to the west and south to the centre of the country, will have assembly elections in 2023.

The approaching year is particularly significant for anti-BJP groups, which have been vociferous about forging a united opposition for some time. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram are among the states that will have elections.

Furthermore, if all goes as planned, the administration may hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir next year. In such sense, the election-year 2023 might be viewed as a semifinal before the mega-battle of 2024.

The two states with a Congress government are Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. So it’s certainly not a stretch to say that the Congress party is fighting for its life after winning the Himachal Pradesh elections.

In Rajasthan, the Congress took control from the BJP in 2018 by capturing 100 seats in the state Assembly’s 200-member body. The BJP, which won a landslide majority of 163 seats in 2013, could only win 73 seats in 2018.

In 2023, the state will see a frontal confrontation between the BJP and Congress. Since 1990, power in Rajasthan has alternated between the BJP and Congress.

The internal schism between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, on the other hand, may cause problems for Congress.