Explained: Congress is a pan India party and BJP is not! These six figures tell how false this narrative is

New Delhi: Is BJP really a party of North India or Hindi belt? Is BJP very weak in comparison to Congress in South India? At least the perception is that BJP is only a party of North India, Congress is the pan India party. For a long time, this narrative has been propagated that Congress has a mass base in the whole of India, but BJP is limited to North India. By contesting the Lok Sabha elections on the face of Narendra Modi, the list of states dominated by BJP increased in 2014 and states of Western India also got added but the fort of South still remained unconquered. Those who say this call Karnataka an exception and say that BJP does not even open its account in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. But the truth is that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP got 30 seats from the southern states while Congress got 29 seats. The exit poll results of this Lok Sabha election are pointing towards which it is clearly indicating that BJP can open its account in all the southern states. Now let us examine the pan India narrative.

Look at the condition of the country from all four directions

For this, we have divided all the states of the country on the basis of four directions. There are a total of 13 states and 153 Lok Sabha seats in the east. There are 101 Lok Sabha constituencies in four states of the west. At the same time, there are 155 Lok Sabha seats in 10 states of North India and 134 Lok Sabha seats in nine states of the south. If we add the total seats of all four directions, then the total Lok Sabha seats become 543. Now if we assess the seats won by BJP and Congress region-wise in the last Lok Sabha elections of 2019, then it becomes clear that BJP was ahead of Congress in every direction. If we leave the region of the south, then BJP is many times ahead of Congress in other directions. Interestingly, the Congress, which is considered a pan-India party on the basis of the states of the south, even there it got only one seat less than BJP.

Situation of Congress vs BJP in South India

If someone says that even though BJP has won one more seat than Congress in South India, but it got seats only from Karnataka, it has no presence in other states. So it is also true that Congress has also got seats only from Kerala, it also has no strong presence in other states of South. We have kept a total of 10 states in the South – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. Out of these 10, Congress opened its account in six states while BJP got seats from three states. BJP got seats from Karnataka as well as Telangana and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. On the other hand, Congress was able to open its account only with one seat in Karnataka while it got one seat less than BJP in Telangana.

Is Congress the only pan India party, not BJP?

In this way, it got an edge only in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where BJP could not open its account. In Andhra Pradesh, BJP remained zero and Congress also got out on zero. An additional state from the south was added to its account in the form of Puducherry where there is only one Lok Sabha seat. In this way, theoretically, Congress has presence in twice as many states as BJP in the south, but in reality, there are only two states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where Congress got seats and BJP was all out. So this is the truth of the narrative of Congress’ presence in the south and BJP’s absence.

If the exit polls prove true then…

Now if the exit poll results turn into actual results on June 4, then this time the absence of BJP from Kerala and Tamil Nadu will also end. Almost all exit polls are showing that this time BJP is opening its account in these two southern states. Some exit polls are giving 5 to 8 seats in Tamil Nadu and 2 to 4 seats in Kerala. If this happens, then it will not be called opening of BJP’s account in these two states but it will be a strong presence.

Watch the investigation of the narrative of Pan India Party

Let us examine the narrative of the Pan India party once again. Imagine, when BJP was absent from only two states of South India, it did not get the title of being a Pan India party, whereas it has left Congress behind here also on the basis of seats. On the other hand, out of the total 27 states of East, West and North, Congress could not even open its account in 15 states, yet it is a Pan India party. On the other hand, BJP was all out in only four of these 27 states. But know the names of these four states and the number of their seats as well. These are – Mizoram (1 seat), Meghalaya (2 seats), Nagaland (1 seat) and Sikkim (1 seat). Also look at the 15 states from which Congress was completely absent. Tripura (2 seats), Mizoram (1 seat), Manipur (2 seats), Nagaland (1 seat), Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Sikkim (1 seat), Rajasthan (25 seats), Gujarat (26 seats), Jammu and Kashmir (5 seats), Ladakh (1 seat), Delhi (7 seats), Himachal Pradesh (4 seats), Haryana (10 seats), Uttarakhand (5 seats) and Chandigarh (1 seat). That is, BJP was absent from four such states which have only 5 Lok Sabha seats. On the other hand, Congress was absent from 15 states which have a total of 92 Lok Sabha seats. Now you must have understood the reality of the narrative of the pan India party.

Congress missing from 18 states with 120 seats and BJP?

Now if we talk about the southern states, Congress was absent from three states namely Andhra Pradesh (25), Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2) and Lakshadweep (1) which have a total of 28 seats, while for BJP this figure is 7 and 87 respectively (Tamil Nadu – 39, Kerala – 20, Andhra Pradesh – 25, Andaman and Nicobar Islands – 1, Dadra and Nagar Haveli – 1, Lakshadweep and Puducherry – 1). Now if we talk about the whole country, Congress was absent from 18 states with a total of 120 seats, while BJP was absent from 11 states which have a total of 93 seats. That means, BJP’s presence is much more than Congress on both the parameters of number of states and Lok Sabha seats. So is this narrative correct that Congress is a pan India party, but Congress is not?

Mere narrative or reality?

From the above data, you must have understood how wrong the notion of Congress being a national party and BJP being limited to the North-West is. As far as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are concerned, most polls are showing that the geographical spread of BJP is getting even bigger.