Ahead of poll results in four States and a Union Territory on Thursday, the BJP is expecting an electoral breakthrough in Assam and ‘the best ever performance’ in Kerala and West Bengal.
A positive result in Assam will be of major significance for the party as it wants to get over its poll defeats in Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections and seeks to get back to its winning streak again. The running anti-incumbency in Assam against the Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s 14-year rule gives the BJP its best chance to oust the Congress and saddle itself in the strategically important State of the North-East.
The exit polls have predicted the BJP to emerge as the single largest party in a House of 126 in Assam. During the Assam campaign, the BJP had made an aggressive campaign against the Congress with Bangladeshi infiltration drawing the maximum focus.
BJP president Amit Shah brought up Bangladeshi infiltration, a massive political issue in lower Assam, alleging that the Congress Government has left the border open to allow illegal migrants to enter from Bangladesh so that they can be used as a vote bank. Shah promised to electorate that if elected to power in Assam his party “will ensure not a bird can fly across”.
The BJP had compared the Assam polls with a historical battle between the invading armies of Mughals against local Ahom rulers. In that battle, Ahoms, led by General lachit Borphukan, had repulsed the Mughals and ended their dream of expanding beyond Bengal.
All the exit polls indicate that the BJP will either be the single-largest party or sweep the election in Assam. Either way, it will get the first shot at forming the government in the state. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley maintains that BJP will do well in Assam and even form a Government in the State.
A day before the counting on Thursday, the BJP had pitched a tent in its office apparently to celebrate the occasion if it scores victory in Assam.
As for other States like West Bengal and Kerala, the BJP is expecting to improve its past poll performance. The tally for the party in Bengal and Kerala is anticipated to go anywhere from one to four seats. “Even couple of seats in these two States will be a moral boosting for the party and its workers,” said a senior party leader. The BJP expects increase in vote share in both the States. “A good performance” in Kerala would encourage the BJP to expand and consolidate its base in the South where it had made a decisive entry by attaining majority in Karnataka in the past.