Election Results: Promises like Ram Mandir, and Article 370 were fulfilled, so why did BJP fall short of a majority, how will 'India' benefit? Know

Posted on 5th Jun 2024 by rohit kumar

The results of the Lok Sabha elections are still coming. After the trends have stabilized, the picture that is emerging now is that according to this, BJP has suffered a big loss in this election. This time, the party is not able to cross the magical figure of 272 seats i.e. majority on its own. However, NDA is seen getting between 290 to 300 seats in this election. On the other hand, India Alliance has gained a huge lead of about 230 to 240 seats, defying all estimates.

 

Meanwhile, the question is that despite strong performance in the last two Lok Sabha elections, fulfilling the promise of Ram Mandir and removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir in the last five-year tenure, why did BJP not get a majority in the general elections this time. Also, there is curiosity about how India Alliance improved its performance despite all the exit polls and estimates. Let us know...

 

1. BJP's seats decreased due to regional parties

It is worth noting that the India Alliance of opposition parties has won the Lok Sabha elections. The interesting thing is that while BJP was the biggest and main party in the NDA alliance, despite the leadership of Congress in the Indi alliance, the regional parties associated with it remained quite strong in their states. Whereas in the NDA, only a few regional parties - TDP (16 seats) in Andhra Pradesh and JDU (12 seats) in Bihar, LJP (5 seats) and Shiv Sena (7 seats) in Maharashtra - were successful in maintaining their separate identity from BJP on their own.

 

On the other hand, DMK has got more than 20 seats in Tamil Nadu and TMC has got about 30 seats from the Indi alliance. Apart from this, Samajwadi Party is seen getting about 40 seats in UP, Aam Aadmi Party 3 in Punjab, CPI-M 4, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb) 9 seats, NCP-SP 7 seats and RJD 4 seats. Apart from this, many other small parties also remained with the Indi alliance, whose scattered seats benefited the Indi alliance tremendously.

 

3. Effect of fighting elections together

 

While the Indi alliance brought together several big and small parties to form a strong front against the BJP, on the other hand, by not announcing its leadership, the Indi alliance not only saved itself from breaking apart but also gave equal opportunity to the leaders of different parties to raise their voices on one platform. In such a situation, the ruling NDA alliance targeted the Indi alliance on many occasions for lack of leadership. Especially the BJP called it a khichdi alliance, calling it the formula of 'five prime ministers in five years/one PM of the country every year'.

 

4. Confidence of coming together later even after fighting separately

 

While all the big faces of the opposition parties were seen together on the platform of the Indi alliance, there was no unity among them in some states. For example, in Delhi, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party found a formula for sharing seats. Leaders of both parties also participated in the meetings of the Indi alliance. But in Punjab, these two parties contested separately. Despite this, both parties benefited overall in the elections. The same happened with the alliance of Congress and Left parties, which were seen together in the meetings of the Indy alliance. While both the parties kept calling for fighting together at the center, in Bengal and Kerala, both the parties were seen competing with each other.

 

On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee, who is considered the architect of the Indy alliance, decided to contest the elections separately, saying that there was no consensus on the seat-sharing formula with the Congress in Bengal. After defeating the BJP one-sidedly in Bengal, this decision of TMC has also proved to be correct.

 

5. Performance in three major states

If we look at the trends/results of the Lok Sabha elections, the NDA has suffered heavy losses in the three largest states in terms of seats - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. While the BJP is seen getting 33 seats out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the party is getting 10 seats in Maharashtra. On the other hand, the party is also seen getting 12 seats in West Bengal. The surprising thing is that in 2019, the BJP got 62 seats in UP. At the same time, the party had won 23 seats in Maharashtra and 18 seats in Bengal. This time the BJP-led NDA has suffered a big loss in all these three states.

 

6. Loss due to reduction in seats in the Hindi belt

 

Not only this but if we talk about the Hindi belt, the BJP had to suffer a lot. While the party's performance declined in UP, in Haryana, BJP could get a lead in only six seats this time as compared to 10 seats in 2019. Apart from this, in Rajasthan, where BJP had got 24 seats last time, this time the party could get only 14 seats. In Bihar, BJP had 15 seats in 2019, this time it remained at 12 seats only. In Jharkhand, BJP had won 11 seats last time, while here too its seats have come down to eight.

 

Unclear stand on many issues, more reliance on past promises

 

Another big issue in this Lok Sabha election was BJP being unclear in many matters. Especially in the last few months, the party has given vague answers on unemployment, inflation, and many other issues. Not only this, the party has issued statements in a mediating manner on many issues like caste census, Maratha reservation, electoral bonds, agricultural law, confrontation with China on LAC, and new judicial code. In such a situation, the BJP's vague stand on these important issues related to the country has cost it dearly.

 

Lack of new promises other than Ram Mandir-Article 370

For BJP, two big promises in 2019 - continuing efforts to build Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and efforts to remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir - attracted the public. However, this time the party was seen asking for votes in the name of fulfilling these two promises. Even in the BJP's manifesto, there was a great lack of new promises this time. The party mostly repeated the same promises which it has already said to take forward on many occasions. In such a situation, due to the lack of new promises, the attention of the voters turned towards those parties which gave priority to new promises.