BJP's strategic victories in Hindi Heartland
The BJP deployed its 'Modi ki Guarantee' tactics, which ensured a sweep in the Hindi Heartland states. BJP came to Chhattisgarh and introduced 47 new faces in the 90-seat Assembly. The BJP tripled its 2018 tally and secured 54 seats, while the Congress came a distant second, halving its previous election tally with 35 seats.
The BJP's vote share was 46.27 percent, while the Congress had 42.23 percent.
The BJP has inflicted heavy defeats on Congress in Surguja region where Congress lost all its 14 seats including TS Singh Deo, former deputy chief minister who lost his Ambikapur seat to BJP's Rajesh Agrawal, adding more salt to the wounds . BJP then ruthlessly targeted former Chief Minister Baghel. the Enforcement Directorate accused the former CM of being involved in the Mahadev Betting scam app.
The agency claimed that payments have been made regularly in the past and to date ₹508 crore has been paid by the promoters of Mahadev betting app to CM Bhupesh Baghel.
BJP also said that Congress has failed to fulfill several 2018 election promises such as banning liquor in the state and other promises to the women's wing of the society. BJP targeted this ploy at women and stated that Congress hardly respects women across the country.
After days of discussions, the BJP appointed Vishnu Deo Sai as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh.
Sai won the Kunkuri Assembly seat with a total of 87,604 votes. He is a prominent figure in the BJP and has held various positions, including former chief of state and former union minister.
Another Hindi Heartland state, Madhya Pradesh, went to the polls where the BJP secured a landslide victory by registering victory on 163 seats. The Congress could secure only 66 seats in the polls.
BJP secured 48.55 percent, while Congress was far at 40.40 percent.
The Ladli Behna scheme, launched by former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, resonated with women voters. The scheme was launched earlier this year in March. The scheme was introduced to supplement the pension of Mukhyamantri Kanya VIvah and Nikah, Mukhyamantri Kanya Abhibhavak.
Here, the BJP also fielded key former central ministers, including Narendra Singh Tomar and Pralhad Patel, reflecting the importance it had attached to these parliamentary elections. BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya fought the elections from Indore-1 constituency.
The Congress pushed its campaign around its eleven guarantees, including a large number of freebies, but the voters found nothing substantial in this as the BJP was already giving the people the benefit of various social schemes, especially the Ladli Behna scheme, which attracted huge support among women. voters.
An era of former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan came to an end after BJP appointed party MLA Mohan Yadav as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Yadav first became an MLA from Ujjain South Assembly constituency in 2013 and won his second term in 2018. He was subsequently elected MLA for the third time in 2023 and elected CM of the state.
Analysts see the strategy of appointing Mohan Yadav as a way to strengthen the OBC votes while impressing the Yadav votes.
In Rajasthan, the BJP secured 115 seats, which helped it comfortably form a government, and the Congress came a distant second with 69 seats.
BJP got 41.69 percent of the votes, while its rival party Congress managed to get 39.53 percent of the votes.
It is noteworthy that the BJP has not declared a ministerial candidate for the Rajasthan elections this time, unlike previous elections when Vasundhara Raje was announced as the party's candidate.
The party also fielded key Lok Sabha MPs in the Assembly elections Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Diya Kumari and Balak Nath.
BJP targeted Ashok Gehlot over allegations of possessing a Red Diary, which allegedly contains secrets about Congress's corruption during his tenure. The eight paper leak issue in Rajasthan also ruined the prospects for the Congress and played a key role in ensuring the BJP's victory.
Speaking at an election rally in Ramgarh, JP Nadda said, “Do you remember the Laal Diary? All the names entered in that diary will be in public domain on November 25 and December 3. Anyone mentioned in the Laal Diary will stand for be brought to justice and put behind bars. Remember this.”
BJP MLA from Sanganer, Bhajanlal Sharma was appointed Chief Minister of Rajasthan at a swearing-in ceremony in Jaipur on Friday. Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa were appointed as deputy chief ministers.
Achievements in Northeastern States
Here, the BJP-NDPP alliance returned to power in Nagaland in this year's assembly elections. The alliance won 37 seats in the 60-member House.
In Mizoram, the BJP could win only 2 seats. The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) was deposed by the Zoram People's Movement – ZPM.
Performance in Southern States.
Concerns have arisen about the BJP in the southern part of the country after the BJP suffered defeats in Karnataka and Telangana. The BJP government in Karnataka faced anti-incumbency and the ground was ripe for the Congress to win.
The Congress benefited from the presence of strong state leaders in former chief minister Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. Many analysts have stated that allegations of corruption against the former CM Basavaraj Bommai government had tarnished the image of the BJP.
The party could not come up with a response to Congress' allegations about the 40 percent commission instead of awarding government contracts. Prime Minister Modi held more than a dozen rallies in the state, but the rallies failed to yield necessary results.
In Telangana, the outcome of Congress coming to power after defeating BRS, a party that had ruled the state since its inception, was seen as a missed opportunity for the BJP.
Although the BJP secured third position as predicted by pollsters, the party managed to increase its number of seats from 1 to 8 and double its vote share. Another positive sign for the BJP in these elections was that it managed to overtake AIMIM.
Performance in local polls
BJP managed to sweep the Gujarat Nagarpalika bypoll by winning 21 of the 30 seats. It also recorded a clean sweep for all 17 mayoral seats in the Uttar Pradesh municipal polls.
In West Bengal, however, the BJP suffered defeats at the hands of the TMC in the violence-marred local polls. TMC managed to bag 34,560 gram panchayat seats while BJP won 9,621 seats.
A way forward for the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections
Amid preparations for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set a target of achieving a 50 percent vote share. Besides, the party will start cluster meetings after January 15 and Yuva Morcha will hold 5000 conferences across the country.
The two-day meeting of BJP national office bearers concluded on Saturday. At this meeting, the BJP has set a target of achieving a 50 percent vote share in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Additionally, the party will conduct a campaign across the country to reach out to new voters. The BJP will organize booth-level programs to reach out to new voters.
According to sources, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has asked all officials in the meeting to ensure a huge margin of victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
Cluster meetings will be organized by dividing Lok Sabhas into clusters across the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP President JP Nadda will address public meetings in these clusters. Yuva Morcha will start new voter conferences on January 24.
The BJP Yuva Morcha will organize 5,000 conferences across the country. In addition, social conferences will be organized throughout the country.
Besides, the BJP has decided to launch a campaign for the Ram Mandir celebrations from January 1, wherein BJP workers will go door to door in all villages across the country and encourage families of ten crore to participate in Diya Lightning programs for Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Eager to win over the minority community ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, the BJP is launching a minority outreach programme, 'Alpsankhyak Sneh Samvad'. (ANI)
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Published: Dec 25, 2023 09:49 AM IST