Around six months after the BJP lost the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to the Congress, the party, along with an ally, carried out a near complete sweep of the Lok Sabha seats in the three states, winning 62 out of the 65 constituencies.
Thursday’s results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections gave the BJP 24 and its ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party one seat out of the 25 seats in Rajasthan; nine seats out of 11 in Chhattisgarh; and 28 out of 29 in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress won the remaining two seats in Chhattisgarh and one seat in Madhya Pradesh.
Slim margins
In December 2018, the Congress had won the Assembly polls with wafer thin margins in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In the former, the BJP had 41.02% of the vote share compared to 40.89% for the Congress. The latter was able to form the government with the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
In Rajasthan, the BJP secured 38.8% of the vote-share compared to 39.8% of the Congress.
The substantial change was in Chhattisgarh where the Congress won 43% of the votes, compared to the BJP’s 33%. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s vote-share has gone up to 58% in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and 50% in Chhattisgarh, while the Congress trailed with 34% and 40% respectively.
Big guns fail
In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress retained only one of the two seats it had won in 2014, with incumbent Jyotiraditya Scindia losing from Guna. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister’s son Kamal Nath's son Nakul Kamal Nath won from Chhindwara, the other seat the party had won in 2014. Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh won on the BJP ticket from Bhopal, defeating former Chief Minister and Congress veteran Digvijay Singh. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot lost from Jodhpur.
Grass roots revival
BJP national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had changed the grammar of politics and destroyed the vote-bank politics of the Opposition. According to senior BJP leaders, after the loss in the three States, the party acknowledged rural distress, announced the ₹6,000 direct income support for farmers with less than two hectares, brought in 10% reservation for the economically-weaker section of the general category and addressed organisational shortcomings in the States. The party also worked to distance itself from anti-incumbency, dropping all sitting MPs from Chhattisgarh.
Published - May 23, 2019 10:49 pm IST
