‘Feeling of regret’ led BJP’s victory in Hindi heartland states

Mumbai: The large voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the Hindi heartland states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh -- has benefitted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to analysts, the increase in turnout was caused by a “feeling of regret” among people who voted against the saffron party in the Assembly elections of these states last December.

Madhya Pradesh: In 2019, the state witnessed 71.1 per cent turnout. It was an increase by 9.53 per cent from 2014. This increase was beneficial for BJP’s vote share, which touched 58 per cent. On the other side, Congress’ vote share dipped from 34.9 per cent in 2014 to 34.5 per cent in 2019.

In the Assembly polls, the BJP’s vote share



was 41 per cent, which was marginally higher than the Congress’ 40.9 per cent.

Rajasthan: The BJP won all 25 Lok Sabha seats and increased its vote share from 54 per cent in 2014 to 58.5 per cent in 2019. The overall turnout was 3 per cent higher than 2014.

An analyst Prakash Bhandari told Hindustan Times, “More people came out to vote for the BJP, which clearly shows that there was a pro-incumbency wave.”

The 2018 state polls verdict was against former chief minister Vasundhara Raje while the support for Narendra Modi remained strong.

Chhattisgarh: The state’s total voter turnout was 71.48 per cent .The vote share of both the BJP and the Congress increased by about two percentage points.