Lotus Blossoms in Heartland with BJP Sweeps three states
Riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and his guarantees blending with welfare politics and development with Hindutva, the BJP swept the Hindi heartland on Sunday. Before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, victory in three states is considered very important for BJP. With this, BJP or NDA alliance is now in power in 17 states. Now BJP has government in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Goa, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Puducherry.
BJP had given tickets to 21 MPs in four states. Of these, only 11 MPs were able to win. Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste also lost the assembly elections. Massive victory for BJP in Madhya Pradesh as Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh led Congress to disastrous tally. BJP won 163 seats in Madhya Pradesh with 48.55% votes shares in the state. Whereas Congress grabbed 66 seats with 40.4% votes. For the first time in the history of Madhya Pradesh, BJP has got so many votes. In Madhya Pradesh, 12 out of 33 ministers of Shivraj Singh Chauhan government lost the elections. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister and BJP candidate from Datia Narottam Mishra lost the election from his seat.
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In Madhya Pradesh, BJP’s strategy of contesting elections on the face of PM and fielding MPs and Union Ministers on hard-fought seats was successful. Women voters openly supported BJP due to the Ladli Behna Yojana and approval of 33% reservation for women. BJP was successful in winning 163 seats in MP on the basis of silent voters.
BJP secured 41.69% votes in Rajasthan. Whereas Congress got 39.53% votes. In the 2018 elections, Congress had gained 39.8% votes, while BJP grabbed 39.3% votes. In Rajasthan, BJP’s vote percentage increased by only 2.39%, while seats increased by 42, while Congress’ vote percentage increased by 0.3%, seats decreased by 30.
In Rajasthan, except Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, 25 of his ministers had contested the elections. Out of these, 17 ministers had to face defeat. These include many big faces including Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas and Bulaki Das Kalla (BD Kalla). Only 8 ministers could save their seats.
The allegations of corruption and resentment against the ministers and MLAs of Rajasthan Congress were severe. Internal strife and resentment among Gujar voters are being considered as major reasons for the defeat. BJP capitalized on the issues of Hindu Tailor Kanhaiyalal murder case in Udaipur, crime against women, corruption against Gehlot government.
In Chhattisgarh, BJP won 54 seats while Congress won 35 seats. Others won 1 seat. Talking about vote percentage, BJP got 46.27% votes in Chhattisgarh, while Congress grabbed 42.23% votes. Talking about 2018, Congress had got 43.9% votes while BJP secured 33.6% votes.
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In Chhattisgarh, nine Congress ministers including Deputy Chief Minister TS Singhdev have lost the elections. Factionalism in Chhattisgarh proved costly for Congress. Apart from this, BJP cornered the Baghel government on the issue of Mahadev App and corruption. Apart from this, BJP’s strategy of not declaring CM face and contesting elections under collective leadership was successful.
BJP announced a guarantee of Rs 12 thousand annually under Matru Vandana Yojana. Apart from this, BJP had promised to give Rs 10,000 annually to landless farmers and laborers in Chhattisgarh. It is believed that this promise of BJP proved to be very helpful in wooing the voters.
KCR missed a hat-trick in Telangana. Congress was successful in forming the government for the first time after the Telangana formation in June 2014. With the victory in Telangana, Congress was successful in forming the government on its own in another southern state. Congress is in government with DMK in Tamil Nadu. Congress won 64 seats in Telangana. At the same time, BRS was reduced to 39 seats. BJP was successful in winning 8 seats in the state. Owaisi’s party had contested elections on 9 seats in Telangana, out of which the party won 7 seats. Congress got 39.4% votes in Telangana. While BRS got 37.5% votes. BJP has got 13.9% votes. BJP had secured 7.1% votes in 2018 elections. BJP candidate Kattipalli Venkata Raman- the name was relatively unknown outside Kamareddy till the BJP announced his as a candidate against K.Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and Revan Reddy of Congress Party. He defeated both Chief Minister KCR and Congress CM face Revanth Reddy.
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In short Congress lost 3 states but ended up getting up more than 10 lakh votes than BJP. -Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh experienced a marginal defeat by 2% and 4%, respectively. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP got 48% but remember that Congress also got 40.5%. If Congress retains present vote share in Lok Sabha in front of PM Modi, It is likely to win more than 20 Lok Sabha seats from these three States out of 65 seats.
