Game of Parties

Elections in five states are going on.  Many politicians have switched parties.  More are likely to switch in coming days.

Swami Prasad Maurya was a minister in UP government.  He quit BJP and joined SP.  Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini followed him.  Some BJP MLAs joined SP.

BJP got some SP members to join it.  Among them were Aparna Yadav, daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Pramod Gupta, brother-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Priyanka Maurya quit Congress and joined BJP.  She was poster girl of Congress.

Utpal Parrikar, son of former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, did not get ticket to contest from Panaji.  He quit BJP and announced his decision to contest from Panaji as Independent.  Arvind Kejriwal had offered him AAP ticket.

Laxmikant Parsekar, former Goa CM, quit BJP as he did not get ticket to contest from Mandrem.

In Goa, some had left Congress and joined TMC.  Two of them left TMC.  TMC wants alliance with Congress in Goa.  Congress is not willing. NCP and Shiv Sena are in alliance in Goa.  Congress did not want part of that alliance.

In Uttarakhand, BJP expelled Harak Singh Rawat.  He joined Congress.

Multiple parties are contesting.  So a party with 25% or less vote share can get 50% or more seats.  In Goa it is AAP vs BJP vs Congress vs NCP+SS vs TMC.  In Punjab it is AAP vs BJP vs Congress vs SAD.  Farmers want to contest elections.  In UP it is BJP vs BSP vs Congress vs SP.  There are other parties which have aligned with leading parties or contesting alone.

If a party wins more than half seats it can form government on its own.  If it is short of majority there is no guarantee.  In 2017 Congress won 17 seats out of 40 but BJP formed government.  Many Congress MLAs left the party over the years and in 2022 Congress is left with two MLAs.