As India enters 2026, the political horizon appears reasonably favourable for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Unlike the tumultuous years of 2024 and 2025, when the party faced multiple statelevel challenges and uncertainties, the new year offers the saffron brigade a relatively smoother path. Three key factors underpin this advantage: limited poll pressure, the emergence of a new party leadership, and a stabilising economic environment.

Congress and the opposition:

For the Congress party, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of strategic vulnerability. Isolated from many regional players, Congress faces the daunting task of carving out a political space on its own, often at odds with the realities of state-level dynamics. Internal factionalism and the absence of a charismatic national leader continue to weaken its organisational coherence, leaving it reactive rather than proactive in framing the electoral narrative.

The party’s attempts to pursue issuebased campaigns without strong alliances risk leaving it marginalised, especially in states with entrenched regional forces. The larger opposition spectrum also struggles to present a united front. Regional parties such as the RJD, DMK, and Left formations have limited synergy with Congress’s centralised strategy. In states like Assam and West Bengal, where demographic and regional factors play a crucial role, Congress will have to negotiate alliances with smaller parties or risk losing the “secular” vote to emerging alternatives like the AIMIM.

The fragmented opposition landscape reinforces BJP’s structural advantage, giving it both a narrative and an........

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