NEW DELHI, Dec. 19 -- The victory of the Congress party with a comfortable majority in Himachal Pradesh in the recently concluded Assembly elections and the defeat of the BJP in the elections to Municipal Corporation Delhi (MCD) indicate that Narendra Modi is not invincible, if the opposition parties, especially the Congress, take elections seriously and fight with passion. The possibility of BJP at any time resorting to 'operation lotus' and capturing power, as it did in Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, cannot be ruled out. Therefore, the Congress cannot be complacent.

Psephologists have analysed the results of the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and have made a comparison between the two. The BJP had ...