The elections in 2012 were scheduled for seven Vidhan Sabhas and several local elections were also conducted. The 14th presidential election to elect the 13th president of the republic was also held in 2012. The tenure of the legislative assemblies of Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand were to expire during the year. The Election Commission of India issued the dates for the elections in Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa to take place in the first quarter of the year. Whereas the elections were held in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in the last quarter of the year.
In the first rounds of elections, Manipur and Punjab resulted in an incumbent government victory; while in Uttar Pradesh and Goa there was a heavy anti-incumbent victory; and Uttarakhand resulted in a hung assembly with an anti-incumbent plurality and in the second round, in Himachal Pradesh, BJP led by incumbent Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal lost due to a huge anti-incumbency wave arising mainly out of corruption and lack of good governance. Congress veteran leader Virbhadra Singh took oath for record sixth term as next Chief Minister. In the western state of Gujarat incumbent Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in power since 2002, was running for his fourth term. Elections, held in two phases, reverted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in power in Gujarat since 1995, with 119 seat out of 182.
Presidential election
The 14th indirect presidential election, in order to elect the 13th president, was held in India on 19 July 2012. On 22 July, Pranab Mukherjee was declared the winner. Mukheree gained 373,116 MP votes and 340,647 MLA votes for a total of 713,763 votes to win the election. He defeated P. A. Sangma, who got 145,848 MP votes and 170,139 MLA votes for a total of 315,987 votes. Mukherjee's win was aided by cross-voting.
Legislative Assembly elections
Goa
The Indian National Congress has been governing Goa since 2005 with coalition partners, despite a controversial vote of confidence. It will go to the election with its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party, under Chief Minister Digambar Kamat. The main opposition BJP will go to the election under the leadership of former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Corruption over mining is expected to be an issue in the election, as well as the BJP's attempts to reach out to Catholic voters.
The election took place on 3 March. The result was announced on 6 March.
The BJP emerged as the largest party and along with its coalition partner, the MGP, is set to form the next government. Manohar Parrikar is poised to be the chief ministerial candidate.
Manipur
Okram Ibobi Singh of the Indian National Congress has led Manipur for two consecutive full terms. The main opposition consists of the Manipur People's Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party and Janata Dal – United.
There are 60 constituencies for which 2,357 polling stations are to be set up. In a total electorate of 17,40,820 people; 8,51,323 are men and 8,89,497 are women. The major issues are territorial integrity (which ensues from the entry of the Nagaland People's Front (the ruling party in neighbouring Nagaland) into the electoral politics of Manipur), the road blockades of National Highways 39 and 53 and the role of insurgents.
The election took place on 28 January. The result was announced on 6 March. as shown below:
Punjab
Punjab forms the northwest part of India. Its capital is Chandigarh, which is a Union territory and also a capital of Haryana.
In the political scenario, Punjab has three main parties divided into two factions, NDA and Congress. The NDA part consists of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), while UPA is dominated mainly by the Congress. The SAD consists of several break-away factions of what once was a unified Akali Dal. BJP has mainly played a supporting role, mainly trying to consolidate the Hindu votes in favour of the alliance. Congress had an upper hand in the 2002 assembly elections, but SAD+BJP combine bounced back quite easily in the 2007 polls.
Punjab Elections 2012 Date:
The state will go to polls in a single phase on 30 Jan 2012 and Punjab election results will be declared on 4 March 2012.