With defeat in Jharkhand, BJP's presence sinking on India's map

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Dec 23, 2019, 07:21 PM IST

As of 6:45 PM JMM has won 8 seats, BJP has won 9, Congress has won 4, and ASJU has won 1 seat.

As the trends in Jharkhand Assembly Elections Results have made it clear that the JMM-RJD-Congress alliance was the preferred choice of people of the state, BJP has almost lost another state since December 2018. 

Current trends show that the alliance is leading in 46 seats while BJP is leading on 25 seats. As of 6:45 PM JMM has won 8 seats, BJP has won 9, Congress has won 4, and ASJU has won one seat.

The half-way majority mark in the 81-seat assembly is 41.

This will be the fifth state in one year that the BJP will lose after Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. In the past 12 months, the party has failed to counter a resurgent opposition.

In the recently held Maharashtra elections, despite emerging as the single largest party, BJP failed to form the government due to clashes with its ally Shiv Sena. In Haryana, it failed to get a majority but somehow managed to form the government with the Dushyant Chatalal-led JJP.

In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress surprisingly defeated BJP despite these being strongholds for BJP.

Though the BJP scored a landmark victory in Lok Sabha elections in May in these states, the defeat in state polls shows that the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not enough to sail through in state election.

As for the likely defeat of the BJP in Jharkhand, it seems that appointing a non-tribal as the chief minister of state, which is dominated by tribal population, has backfired for the party. Over-reliance on national issues like Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and NRC failed to impress the voters as they showed more interest in about local issues raised by the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance.