The BJP”s underwhelming show in the two state assembly elections, especially in Haryana, has left the party with issues to ponder on even though it looked set to form governments there as well as in Maharashtra.
A BJP leader said the poll outcome in Haryana showed that the “micro issues” played a role in the party”s below-par performance in the state, where it built its campaign around “macro issues” like abrogation of Article 370. Local factors also played a key role in Maharashtra, where the saffron party did not get an overwhelming mandate as it was hoping for.
It was also felt that the wide margin between the party”s vote share in the recent Lok Sabha polls and these assembly elections show that voters are driven by different factors in different elections, and the BJP”s effort to frame every contest around issues like nationalism to subsume local bread and butter issues may not hit the bull”s-eye every time.
Another party leader, who did not wish to be named, said agrarian issues and large scale defection of opposition leaders to the BJP may have worked adversely against the party”s interest in Maharashtra.
Asked if NCP veteran Sharad Pawar managed the issue of Enforcement Directorate registering a case against him during elections to his advantage by projecting himself as a victim of political vendetta, he said it was certainly “bad optics” for the BJP.
In Haryana, he said a consolidation of votes of Jats, the largest community in the state, against the BJP was crucial in harming the party”s prospects.
The Congress, which failed to bag even one seat in the Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, won or was ahead in 31 of the 90 seats at stake compared to its previous tally of 15. The BJP, which had 47 seats in the outgoing 90-member house, won or was ahead in 40 seats. The half-way mark is 46.
From the 58 per cent vote share the BJP had in the Lok Sabha polls, it fell to 36.5 per cent in the assembly polls.
As per the results and trends available in Maharashtra, the BJP”s tally in the 288-member Assembly was 103 while it was 57 for the Sena. In the 2014 polls, the BJP and the Sena won 122 and 63 seats respectively. They had then contested separately.
The saffron alliance vote share stood at 42 per cent against 51 per cent in the parliamentary polls.
Though in both states the BJP and its allies are much ahead of their rivals but a creditable performance by the Congress in Haryana when the opposition was considered out of reckoning by most pollsters highlighted the gap between the issues on the ground and the popular narrative, a saffron ally said.
Allies of the BJP may feel boosted by the results as it will now have to depend more on a party like Shiv Sena, which was feeling increasing marginalised since 2014 as the BJP replaced it as the senior partner.
