Election cracks: PM Modi
India saw the 2019 General Elections, ‘Brand Modi’ had become leader with the BJP's glorious wins in Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand elections.
In 2014, the BJP was extensive the Lok Sabha General Elections and conquering states under the leadership of Narendra Modi who was declared as the prime ministerial candidate in 2013.
ASSAM ELECTION
In 2016, the BJP won 86 seats in the 126-seat Assam assembly with then sports minister Sarabanda Sonowal ending the 15-year-old rule of Congress leader Tarun Gogoi. Congress secured meagre 26 seats. This was a significant victory for the BJP who had made its foray into the Northeast with the Assam win. Sonowal greeted to PM Narendra Modi for the Assam win, and said the people of the state supported BJP because of Modi’s efforts on development for the country.
UTTAR PRADESH
In 2017, the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh election with a massive mandate, riding on the ‘Modi wave’, by securing 324 seats out of the 403 seats in the state assembly –- the biggest majority of any party in the state since 1980. Modi had passed out Varanasi as the main focus of his attention ahead of the polls. The Samajwadi Party and Congress got 54 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party secured 19 seats, its worst performance so far in the UP assembly election.
Many said the BJP’s win in the 2017 UP polls was a mere reassertion of the 2014 Lok Sabha results. Describing the mood in the polls, Milan Vaishnav, in Carnegie Endowment, wrote, “More than a vote for the BJP, this was a vote for Modi. The results create more political space for the BJP to govern, and they improve the party’s electoral prospects ahead of the 2019 general elections. Meanwhile, they also add momentum to efforts to recast the party in Modi’s mold.”
UTTARAKHAND CONQUEST
The BJP put out a strong performance in the 2017 Uttarakhand polls, and won 57 seats out of the 70-seat assembly, while the Congress secured only 11 and other parties got two seats. The state, which alternately votes for the BJP and Congress, supported the former in 2017, riding on the Modi wave while in the previous election the Congress arranged to get power with the help of the PDF. Narendra Modi and anti-incumbency against chief minister Harish Rawat led to BJP’s win the state.
TRIPURA TRIUMPH
In 2018, the BJP had always said without the tribal vote it cannot win Tripura. A month before winning 43 seats while reducing the CPM to 16 seats, the BJP come up with the IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura). The tribal party won eight out of nine seats it had contested.
The BJP’s victory in Tripura opened its channel to expand its footprints in other northeastern state. The party, which has never polled over 2% of votes since 1983 state elections, ended the 25-year rule of Left in the tiny northeastern state. The Congress, however, got 1.8% of votes in 2018 compared to 36.33% votes in the previous assembly polls.
ASSAM ASCENT IN 2021
The BJP win in 2021 in Assam underscored the fact the massive protests in the state against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019 did not have any impact on the election results. A new record was created where a first non-Congress alliance won a consecutive term in the state.
The BJP, AGP and UPPL won 60, 9 and 6 seats, while the Congress, AIMIM, BPF and CPI(M) won 29, 16, 4 and 1 seats respectively.
Modi had replied, “The people of Assam have again sparked the NDA’s development agenda and the pro-people track record of our Government in the state. I thank the people of Assam for the blessings. I admire the hard work of NDA Karyakartas and their untiring efforts in serving the people.”
BJP 2022
Once again, the BJP posted history under PM Modi by winning over 250 seats in the 403-seat assembly in UP, thus, stamping its second consecutive win in the state, breaking the three-decade jinx of state governments returning to power.
PM Narendra Modi praised Yogi Adityanath’s achievement as he won the Gorakhpur seat by more than 1 lakh votes, and suggested that UP’s victory would pave way for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The false propaganda regarding EVMs and election material over the last few days have been rejected,” Yogi Adityanath had said apparently targeting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over EVM tampering allegations.
‘MODI MAGIC’
This time again, the hill state voted for the BJP throwing off its trend of choosing alternately between the Congress and saffron party. Despite appointing a slew of chief ministers, including Trivendra Singh Rawat and Pushkar Singh Dhami, in just a few months, the BJP secured 47 seats in the 70-member assembly.
The work done by the Centre and state government during the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted the state’s economy, which heavily depends on tourism from Char Dham Yatra and Kumbh Mela among others, received a positive response. Vaccination in the remotest part of the hill state was achieved; access to cooking gas, financial aid to girls, free ration, work under MGREGA translated into votes for the BJP.
MANIPUR
The BJP returned to power in Manipur by bagging 32 seats in the 60-member assembly on its own while the Congress managed to secure only five seats. The Naga People’s Front and Kuki People’s Alliance won five and two seats respectively.
