BJP could have turned the tables again with just 6 lakh votes on 33 seats! Know how the game got spoilt

New Delhi : As soon as the results of the Lok Sabha elections came out, political experts are busy doing calculations. This time, while BJP won 240 Lok Sabha seats on its own, NDA got 293 seats. This is 20 seats more than the majority figure of 272 in the 543-member House. However, this is in contrast to the spectacular performance of BJP in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At that time, the party had achieved the majority figure on its own. Analysis of this election shows that there are about 33 seats where the contest was very close. If BJP had got additional 6,26,311 votes on these seats, the party could have been successful in getting the majority alone.

In Chandigarh, BJP lost by a narrow margin of 2504 votes, while in Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, the margin was just 2,629 votes. In Salempur in UP, the BJP candidate had to face defeat by 3,573 votes. On the other hand, in Dhule, Maharashtra, the party had to face defeat by just 3,831 votes. In Dhaurahra in UP, the BJP candidate had to face defeat by 4,449 votes. Apart from this, there were some other seats where the margin of victory was less in the overall scenario. This includes South Goa seat, where BJP lost by 13535 votes. In Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, it had to face defeat by 14,569 votes, while in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, it had to face defeat by 16,077 votes.

There were some seats where the margin of defeat of BJP was a little higher. In Fatehpur, UP, the party lost by 33,199 votes, in Kheri the BJP candidate lost by 34,329 votes. Overall, there are about 33 such seats where the BJP candidate had to face defeat by a close margin. Keeping in mind the future elections, BJP needs to change its strategy a bit in these seats, so that the defeat of a few votes can be converted into victory. Overall in this election, BJP’s seats saw a decline of 21 percent. Talking about Congress, its seats registered an impressive increase of 90 percent.

BJP contested 441 seats this time, while Congress fielded candidates on 328 seats. On further analysis, it can be seen that out of the 168 seats on which BJP fielded its sitting MPs, the party won 111 seats, which is 66 per cent of the total seats. On the other hand, out of the 132 seats on which sitting MPs were not given tickets, the party won 95 seats, which is 72 per cent of the total seats. This shows that the party was successful in curbing anti-incumbency sentiment in some seats by changing candidates. However, due to falling short of the majority figure in Parliament, BJP may have to depend on the will of allies like Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu.