The 2024 Lok Sabha elections have officially ended with the winners being announced after a long voting period and an intense 24 hours of wait for the results. The biggest shock among all was that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not win a majority on its own.
Securing only 240 seats, the party fell short of the needed 272-seat majority, however, that does not mean it’s not coming into power since being part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) the party still has the majority.
The Indian National Congress (INC) was the surprise outcome in this election winning 99 seats, almost double the 44 seats it got in the previous Lok Sabha elections and can now take up the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha position.
Given the lofty promises and goals, here we take a look at what could have been the potential reasons that BJP failed to perform as well as they’d thought in these elections.
1. Cracks With Yogi Adiyanath
The Ram Temple consecration was supposed to cement the BJP in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and ensure the vote bank would be in their favour. However, UP turned away from BJP and instead gave the Samajwadi Party (SP) a majority and even the INDIA coalition received more votes than NDA.
As per reports, while the incumbent chief minister Yogi Adityanath held public meetings in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, there is speculation that his role was limited in various areas, such as candidate selections.
A report by New Indian Express wrote “There are also indications that names of many candidates suggested by Yogi Adityanath were not accepted, and the results in these constituencies have been unfavourable for the party. Party sources say this had impacted the enthusiasm and morale of party workers and led to deepening internal divisions.”
According to a Hindustan Times report, SK Singh a political analyst said, “In the Lok Sabha election, rather than the state factors, the national ones are in play. Despite an SP surge in the 2022 assembly election, Yogi ensured that the BJP returned to power with a comfortable majority of seats. He has the capability to pull the BJP out of the quagmire of defeat to victory in the 2027 assembly election. The BJP should use Yogi’s charisma that has the mass appeal to regain the lost ground in East U.P. where the BJP has suffered worst defeat since 2014 Lok Sabha election.”
Another BJP leader is said to have revealed that the CM did not want a ticket to be given to Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar and even Arvind Rajbhar from Ghosi while not a popular candidate as per ground reports was given a ticket.
Both of them ended up losing the seat to SP candidates. As per another HT report, “He remains the party’s tallest leader in the state, and that the party may have paid a price for not giving him enough say in the selection of candidates.”
2. Cracks With RSS
The BJP party was also seen to have distanced itself from RSS, which is said to have helped them heavily in previous election campaigns in gaining votes.
Reports have stated that RSS volunteers were not as active in this election campaign as the 2014 and 2019 ones and even the 2017 and 2022 Assembly polls. As per a BJP leader, “Some state-level functionaries were visiting districts in chartered planes or helicopters, dictating like bureaucrats and leaving without taking proper feedback or listening to local workers.”
J P Nadda, BJP party president’s interview with The Indian Express from 18th May also has him speaking about RSS saying, “You see, we have also grown. Everyone has got their own work. RSS is a cultural organisation and we are a political organisation. Shuru mein hum aksham honge, thora kum honge, RSS ki zaroorat padti thi… Aaj hum badh gaye hain, saksham hai… toh BJP apne aap ko chalati hai.
(In the beginning we would have been less capable, smaller and needed the RSS. Today, we have grown and we are capable. The BJP runs itself.) That’s the difference.”
While he did add that “There is great respect among both organisations for each other” the absence of RSS has been felt in this election.
Deep Halder in a Print report revealed what a senior RSS functionary told him about the elections saying, “The RSS wanted the tone and tenor of the BJP’s 2024 electoral campaign to focus mainly on three positives: PM Modi’s personal popularity with the Indian voter and his government’s last-mile delivery on the ground of all its promises, the issue of national security that has no doubt gotten strengthened under this government and the cultural resurgence that has taken place in the last 10 years.”
Read More: Here’s What BJP Is Upto With Its ‘Coffee With Youth’
3. Ticket Distribution Gone Wrong
There was also a supposed error in ticket distribution, especially in UP. It is believed that ground reports were not paid enough attention by the party during ticket distribution this time around, something done in previous elections.
There was a growing sentiment of anti-incumbency toward some candidates, as an HT report states “During a meeting, state leaders had briefed the central leadership about the anti-incumbency against the candidates but to their surprise all got ticket.”
A BJP leader also said “It (ticket distribution) was based on reports of some survey agencies and reports from some intelligence agencies. They defined their own criteria, likings and dislikings about ticket claimants and did not listen to word on the ground realities.”
Where the SP party included various groups, giving tickets to Kurmis and Kushwaha-Maurya-Shakya-Saini along with having an OBC state party president in Shyamlal Pal, BJP is reported to have not expanded its base.
In an Indian Express report, a BJP leader said, “Our social engineering was governed by Central leaders and this time they were highly unaware and ignorant of the ground realities. While the SP expanded its base, the BJP reduced itself. Akhilesh made inroads in BJP bases but the BJP still considers Yadavs and Jatavs as almost anti-BJP.”
4. Modi’s Quotes
Modi’s speeches were also considered to have made people question their votes instead of securing them for the party.
On May 14, PM Modi in an interview with News 18 said, “Until my mother was alive, I used to think I was born biologically. After her demise, when I look at my experiences, I am convinced that I was sent by God. This strength is not from my body. It has been given to me by God. That’s why god also gave me the ability, strength, pure heartedness, and also the inspiration to do this. I’m nothing but an instrument that God has sent.”
Another controversial statement was when speaking at a campaign rally in the Zaheerabad Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana Modi said, “As long as I am alive, I will not let reservations of Dalits, adivasis, OBCs be given to Muslims on the basis of religion.”
Vir Sanghvi, in a Print report, wrote, “BJP lost in those constituencies where the Prime Minister had made the most inflammatory speeches (Banswara in Rajasthan, for instance) warning that the Congress would confiscate Hindu property for the benefit of Muslims.”
Vir Sanghvi also wrote, “Big revelation for the Opposition (and perhaps for the PM’s uncritical fans in the electronic media) is that Modi is not invincible. He can go wrong. In many key states, his popularity can easily be punctured. And his rhetoric can turn out to be hollow and ineffectual.”
5. Unrealistic Goals Like “400 Paar”
The unrealistic expectations set by the party and Modi himself are also reported to have been among the reasons why the party did not do well this time.
The “400 paar” claim made by the party about securing 400 seats on its own in the Lok Sabha was a lofty goal, Sanghvi wrote, “To have said that it would win would have been enough. But the talk of 400 seats set the bar unnecessarily high. And in the process, it set the party (and the Prime Minister) up for a fall. Anything short of 400 seats or a landslide would not have lived up to the expectations it had created for itself.”
Along with this the election campaign was also heavily carried on the Modi name with the party betting on his popularity and name to get them the votes needed.
Sanghvi for this wrote, “Even the BJP manifesto was framed as ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’. Every BJP candidate’s campaign speech included an almost ritual invocation to the great leader. And the Prime Minister frequently referred to ‘Modi’ in the third person in his speeches.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, Livemint
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This post is tagged under: Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha election, BJP, nda, congress, india, election results, Lok Sabha election result, Lok Sabha election 2024, Lok Sabha election result 2024, election results 2024, election 2024, election news, Yogi Adityanath, bjp Yogi Adityanath, up, bjp up, bjp majority, bjp votes, bjp seats, bjp news, bjp election result, bjp election seats reasons, rss, bjp rss, bjp jp nadda, Narendra modi, amit shah, bjp ticket distribution, bjp 400 paar
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