Election results 2012: What the results signify

POLITICS
Weaker Congress at the Centre. Pesky allies like Mamata Banerjee may get bolder. So may strong non-Congress CMs like Naveen Patnaik, Jayalalithaa, Nitish Kumar.

Rough times ahead for Congress in budget session this month and presidential polls in July. Ironically, Manmohan Singh’s job security improves. Who's going to ask for Rahul Gandhi as PM now?

REFORMS
FDI in retail stays dead. Only a great Congress performance could have revived it. Also, forget any reform bills. Congress may not even have UPA allies supporting them.

Key bills with uncertain future include those on land acquisition, pension, insurance, mining, etc. Adopting GST, which needs states on board, may also get tougher.

BUDGET
Congress can go two ways: Populist or Big Bang. Populist is the obvious option for parties that take a knock in polls.

Big Bang because this is the one chance for Congress to show some spunk since next year's would be UPA II's pre-poll budget. Analysts predict a muddling-through budget.

MARKET
Here's what fund managers predict:
1. Seven of 17 fund managers and brokers polled by ET expect the Sensex to end the year in a range of 17,000-17,500.
2. Four of 17 expect the Sensex to end the year in a range of 17,500-18,000.
3. Ten of 17 participants don't expect much in the way of market reforms such as FDI in retail this year.

SIDESHOW
Watch out for these:
1. Will Mayawati c hange her hairstyle as she did when she lost power in 2002?
2. Will Uma Bharti go back to MP, will anyone miss her in UP BJP?
3. Will Robert Vadra hint again he wants to join politics?
4. Amar Singh...Amar Singh who?