The resounding victory of Bharatiya Janata Party in four states, which went to polls recently, will give a zing to party’s Mission Uttar Pradesh as it has been proved without doubt that Modi’s magic has worked in the northern India.
What happened in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh was not unexpected. But what made poll pundits to sit back and note is the margin of victory in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - two states who share borders with Uttar Pradesh. In Madhya Pradesh BJP got 165 seats - 22 more than 2008 election while in Rajasthan party docked 162 seats - whooping 84 seats more than the 2008 assembly elections. The Congress that had formed Government last time In Rajasthan had won 96 seats in 2008 and BJP won 66 seats more than Congress.
Such a huge margin of victory in these two states shows that BJP has been able to penetrate deep into the rural areas. Some of the experts have not even ruled out minority votes that tipped the scale in favour of BJP. This was only possible because of Modi wave sweeping the country. In Bharatpur region of Rajasthan, that shared boundary with UP, BJP defeated Congress similarly in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh BJP swept the election. Vote analysis suggest that BJP won almost 66 per cent of the seats that went to polls in four states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Rajasthan while Congress got just 23 per cent seats.
This new trend has bolstered the confidence of BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh. The party believes that Modi has been able to send right message across the people and in 2014 lok Sabha election BJP will also penetrate rural areas of this politically sensitive state. The BJP finds itself in such a morass because of decline in its vote share in last two decades. In 1993 the party had 33.53 per cent vote share and it gradually declined to 15 per cent in last assembly election of 2012. This decline was gradual till 1999 when party had 27.64 per cent vote share. But in 202 the vote share declined to 20.01 per cent. In 2004 the vote share increased to 22.17 per cent but it plummeted to 16.97 per cent and since then the decline is regular.
"It is the Modi magic which had made it possible. The victory of BJP in four states has proved that party will win no less than 40 seats in UP. Modi ka jadoo chal pada," said elated BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak.