Numerically stable in Goa, Manipur

This election means less chance of smaller parties dictating terms to BJP state governments

This much is true: That the decisive victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur and Goa, both known to have an endemic defection problem, has eliminated arbitrage by smaller parties and ensured stability in politics.

The unintended beneficiary of this is Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. It took nearly six hours after then chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s death to settle on Mr Sawant. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP got only 13 seats, four fewer than the Congress’s 17, in a house of 40. It was able to form a government largely because of Congress lethargy and the