‘Silent’ voters leave BJP stunned in Rohtak

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, June 5

The embarrassing debacle in the Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency has made the BJP state leadership ponder over the possible reasons behind it. The indifference of “silent” voters towards the party in both urban and rural areas has reportedly left it stunned.

A large number of “silent” voters, especially non-Jats in urban areas, shifted towards the Congress, assisting it in securing a victory with a margin of around 3.45 lakh votes.

“Multiple reasons are to blame for the BJP’s defeat in Rohtak. Besides national issues like unemployment, inflation and the Agnipath scheme, urbanites are annoyed with the BJP government over the scarcity of potable water, erratic power supply, flaws in family and property IDs, withholding of social security pension etc,” said a political analyst.

“Deepender’s clean image, courteous nature and his remarkable performance as MP during the Hooda regime from 2005 to 2014 helped him get votes from various sections. The landslide victory is a proof that he managed to poll votes from all communities,” he added. BJP’s incharge for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat Ashok Khurana conceded that shifting of a major section of “silent” voters towards the Congress came as a bolt from the blue for the party.

“No one had expected this trend, especially in urban areas where people believe in the BJP’s policies. The exact reasons behind the BJP’s defeat in Rohtak, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar, Kalanaur and Kosli will be known later, but it seems local issues dominated the national perspective, helping the Congress emerge victorious,” he said.

Khurana admitted that people were compelled to make rounds of government offices due to various issues pertaining to property and family IDs, property tax assessment, pension and drinking water shortage, despite the state government’s efforts to resolve such issues.

Key factors at play

Multiple reasons are to blame for the BJP’s defeat in Rohtak. Besides national issues like unemployment, inflation and Agnipath scheme, urbanites are annoyed with the BJP government over scarcity of potable water, erratic power supply, flaws in family and property IDs, withholding of social security pension etc. — Political analyst