BJP’s vote share falls, but not all go to Cong

New Delhi, December 12

The BJP may have lost three key states to the Congress, but its vote share has not shifted entirely to the grand old party as some other players have reaped the gains.

Another key aspect is that while comparing the vote share of the recent state polls with 2014 General Election, the BJP’s loss is bigger, as it had virtually swept all the three states by winning 62 of the 65 Lok Sabha seats.

Interestingly in MP, BJP’s vote share is higher than that of Congress, whereas in Rajasthan it is just marginally less. In Telangana and Mizoram, it is the regional parties that have gained. 

In Chhattisgarh, the Congress got 43% votes in this election, up from 40.3% in 2013 and 38.37% in 2014. The BJP’s share dipped from 41%  in 2013 to 33% now. In 2014, it got 49% votes. While the BSP got 4.3% in 2013, its alliance with ex-CM Ajit Jogi’s party has now got 11.5%. Independents improved their performance from 5.3% to 5.9%. 

Similar trend was visible in Rajasthan where BJP’s votes have taken a dip from 45.2%  in 2013 to 38.8% now. It was at nearly 55% in 2014 when the party won all 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state. The Congress has improved its vote share from 33.1% in 2013 to 39.3% in 2018. It had managed to get nearly 30% despite losing all seats in 2014. Independents have improved their tally from 8.2% to 9.5%. 

The vote share situation is most interesting in MP where the Congress improved from 36.4% in 2013 to 40.9% in 2018, while that of the BJP has come down from 44.9% to 41%. The Congress has a lower vote share here than the BJP, but it beat the saffron party in the number of seats won (114 against 109). The BSP’s share has fallen to 5% while that of Independents has marginally risen to 5.8%. 

In Telangana, the TRS has seen a rise in vote share from nearly 34% last time to about 46.9%. The Congress has also improved from 25.2% to 28.4%, though its newly-found ally TDP, which was earlier with BJP, has taken a beating. BJP’s vote share is almost static at about 7%. 

Mizoram is the only state where Congress share has come down from nearly 45%  in 2013 to just above 30%, while BJP’s has risen from 0.4% to 8%. The winner MNF has improved from 28.8% to 37.6%. — PTI

5-STATE VERDICT

Hectic parleys in Cong to elect 3 CMs while BJP ponders over what went wrong

People chose Cong with heavy heart

Apne dil par patthar rakhkar people voted for Cong after seeing it as main contender for power... Cong ignored Ambedkar’s path, thus Dalits floated own parties... Even BJP flourished due to Cong’s wrong policies. — Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party Supremo 

Waive farm loans within 10 days

Rahul Gandhi has promised to waive farmers’ loans within 10 days of coming to power or he’ll change CM. He must fulfil his promise… Now it is our responsibility to play role of chowkidar. — Shivraj Singh Chouhan, outgoing MP Chief Minister 

Reveal caste of other gods too

Caste of only some Gods has been revealed. It will be good if he (Yogi) tells caste of all of them. I will also pray to the God of my caste... The SP always stood against communal forces. — Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party President

Results busted ‘Modi magic theory’

The election results in five states destroyed the untenable theory of the Narendra Modi magic and will propel the Opposition parties to bond better for the next Lok Sabha polls. — Yashwant Sinha, disgruntled BJP leader 

GAME-CHANGERS 

Chhattisgarh LoP wins, breaks jinx

Raipur: When Congress leader TS Singh Deo won Ambikapur Assembly seat in Chhattisgarh, he not only comfortably retained the seat, but also broke a jinx in the process. He broke the jinx that sitting Leader of Opposition does not get re-elected to the Chhattisgarh Assembly. He defeated BJP's Anurag Singh Deo by 39,624 votes. In the past, three LoPs had failed to get re-elected. PTI

10 R’sthan seats see below-1,000 margin 

Jaipur: The electoral battle in Rajasthan, where the Congress-led alliance got a slender majority, saw at least 10 close contests with winning margins of less than 1,000 votes, with the narrowest winning margin being of only 154 votes in Asind seat. Also, at least 15 constituencies polled more NOTA (none of the above) votes than the victory margin of the winning candidates. IANS

Within hours, AIFB MLA defects to TRS 

Hyderabad: Within 24 hours of his election, the lone legislator of All India Forward Block (AIFB), K Chandar Patel, announced he was switching loyalties to Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Chandar, elected from Ramagundam, on Wednesday met TRS chief and CM K Chandrashekar Rao’s son KT Rama Rao and expressed his willingness to join the party. Chandar defeated S. Satyanarayana of TRS by over 26,000 votes. IANS

Cong pokes Mamata: ‘Why silent on win’

Kolkata: After its good show in the Assembly elections, the Congress on Wednesday asked if Trinamool leaders were having "sleepless nights" fearing their dream of Mamata Banerjee becoming the PM may not be fulfilled. At a rally in Kolkata, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi questioned why Mamata Banerjee had not given credit to Rahul Gandhi for the massive victory. PTI

Cong’s seven of 15 Muslims win 

Jaipur: Seven out of 15 Muslim candidates fielded by the Congress won in Rajasthan. In 2013, not a single Muslim candidate from Congress had won. Amin Kagzi won from Kishanpole seat, Rafiq Khan from Adarsh Nagar, Zahida Khan from Kaman, Danish Abrar from Swai Madhopur, Shaleh Mohammad from Pokaran, Amin Khan from Sheo and Hakam Ali Khan from Fatehpur. PTI