BUCKING THE TREND

STRATEGIC MANOEUVRES, A CENTRE-RUN CAMPAIGN AND A SHIFT IN VOTER PREFERENCES AIDED THE BJP’S SWEEPING VICTORY, AND HELPED IT THWART 18 YEARS OF ANTI-INCUMBENCY

- RAHUL NORONHA

Look at the post-vote counting heat map depicting party-wise victories in saffron and blue on the Election Commission of India's website, and you encounter a sea of saffron. From Jaora on the Rajasthan border in the west to Chitrangi on the Uttar Pradesh border in the east, one can travel almost a thousand kilometres by road without having to cross a single Congress-held assembly constituency. Likewise, from Dimani up north in the Chambal zone to Multai, abutting Maharashtra, the country's second-largest state has another 700-odd saffron kilometres. That is what the BJP's resounding victory for a fifth time in Madhya Pradesh-securing 163 seats compared to the 66 that the Congress has won in the 230-member assembly-looks like on the map.

From being an election where the BJP was said to be fighting 18 years of anti-incumbency, and also one in which there was a clear relegation to the background of its chief minister of 16 long years, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, how did the party manage to make the impossible possible? A lot of it owes to the combination of tactical moves executed by the national and state leadership. But the Congress's lacklustre campaign further contributed, in equal measure, to the BJP's stupendous triumph.