Party’s historic victory credited for the buoyancy
If there is something more significant for the BJP than its 7-0 win in the Capital it is the substantial increase in vote share as compared to the previous elections in Delhi. The vote share of the BJP — which stood at 33.08 per cent in the 2013 Assembly elections — rose to 46.43 per cent in the just concluded lok Sabha polls. This, however, further strengthened the party’s prospects to win the impending re-elections for Delhi legislative Assembly.
As BJP leaders earlier said, this increase in vote share clearly indicated the party’s growing popularity and acceptance among all sections, including the lower sections of the society. These voters, who are considered the traditional vote bank of the Congress and now the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), voted for the BJP in the lok Sabha polls that propelled it to clinch victory in all the seven constituencies. The BJP had aggressively taken up the issue of poor infrastructure, water and power in slums and unauthorised colonies in Delhi that has evidently resulted in Friday’s electoral earthquake.
A comparison of the parliamentary election results in Delhi indicates an increase of nearly 11 per cent in the vote share. In 2009, however, the BJP had polled 35.08 per cent votes as compared to 46.43 per cent in 2014. In the previous election, which was only fought between the Congress and the BJP, the Congress bagged the maximum number of votes accounting to 57.13 per cent. However, this time the Congress ended up with its worst-ever performance.
While it lost all the seven seats to the BJP, its vote share also declined by a whopping 42 per cent to finish at 15.15 per cent. Comparatively, the newbie AAP finished better of the Congress bagging 32.93 per cent votes in the lok Sabha polls. In 2014 polls, Delhi had registered a record voting of 65.09 per cent which was also higher than the 2009’s figure of 52 per cent.
Meanwhile, the performance of the AAP and the BJP in terms of votes assume greater significance. It was the AAP’s dent into the BJP’s ‘anti-Congress’ votes during the 2013 Assembly polls that essentially prevented the BJP from getting a clear majority in the House. Winning 28 seats, the AAP had kept the BJP away from the seat of power despite the latter emerging as the single largest party. In the Assembly polls, the vote shares of the BJP, AAP and the Congress stood at 33.08 per cent, 24.56 per cent and 29.56 per cent respectively.