By: Anand Telmude [*Anand Teltumbde is former CEO of PIL, professor of IIT Kharagpur, and GIM, Goa. He is also a writer and civil rights activist.]* Published in: *The Wire* Date: May 9, 2026 Source: https://thewire.in/politics/whats-there-to-comment-on-election-results *No**te: *Please access the source to read the entire article. "The machinery that produces electoral outcomes has itself become subsumed within the BJP's political project.
Let me begin with a provocative proposition I made after seeing the new Election Commission of India (ECI) – one that may sound excessively cynical to many, but is unfortunately not yet off the mark: for the next thousand years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not lose an election unless it chooses to lose one. Not because its politics have become irresistible, nor because the opposition has collapsed beyond recovery, but because the machinery that produces electoral outcomes has itself become subsumed within its political project. Its choice will be determined solely by its own strategic calculus – whether the marginal gains from electoral victory are worth the corresponding loss of legitimacy in the eyes of both the Indian and international public. The five-state election results of May 4, 2026, only seem to confirm this proposition."
