Rural distress costs BJP dear in Lok Sabha poll

Neeraj Mohan

New Delhi, June 6

The rural distress coupled with farmers’ unrest seems to have played a significant role in the BJP’s rout in rural and semi-rural constituencies, preventing the party from getting a simple majority by bringing its tally from 303 to 240.

Anger over pricing policies, MSP

• The Centre’s pricing policies and MSP provisions led to dissatisfaction among farmers. These issues were exacerbated by the handling of farmer protests, particularly in Punjab and Haryana
• The BJP’s number came down to 33 from 62 in UP in this election. It lost 11 seats in Rajasthan, five in Haryana and two in Punjab, facing a loss of 47 seats in the four states as compared to 2019

The decline in the support for the BJP in rural areas can be attributed to several factors — economic strain, failure to double farmers’ income, slowdown in agricultural growth despite overall economic gains, etc. An analysis of the Lok Sabha election results reveals that of around 300 rural and semi-rural seats, the BJP-led NDA managed to secure only 221, a notable decline from the 251 seats it won in 2019.

The results indicate a clear shift in rural voter sentiment as the opposition INDIA bloc made the most of the rural distress and managed to capture 157 of these constituencies. This shift suggests a growing dissatisfaction with the current government’s policies and handling of rural issues — especially the farmers’ agitation in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP in 2020-21.

There has been dissatisfaction with the government’s pricing policies and minimum support price (MSP) provisions. These issues were exacerbated by the handling of farmer protests, particularly in regions like Punjab and Haryana.

Besides losing 29 seats in UP alone, as its number came down to 33 from 62, the BJP has lost 11 seats in Rajasthan, five seats in Haryana and two in Punjab, facing straight loss of 47 seats in these four states as compared to 2019.

In additions to this, failure to open its account in Punjab, the BJP faced debacle in the several farmer-dominated constituencies, including Lakhimpur Kheri, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Saharanpur of UP, Hisar, Rohtak, Sonepat, Ambala and Sirsa in Haryana and Sikar, Churu, Jhunjhunu and Nagaur in Rajashtan.

As per experts, besides the issues of MSP and loan waiver, the action against Punjab farmers by the Haryana Government united the peasants. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha — an umbrella body of nearly 40 farmer associations —openly gave a call to oppose the BJP in the LS elections.

Devinder Sharma, an agriculture and food policy expert, said the electoral verdict clearly demonstrates that the farmers’ anger had translated into votes against the ruling party. In nearly every two constituencies, the BJP faced defeat, highlighting setbacks in 38 farmer-dominated seats.