BIHAR BJP GRAPPLES WITH DECLINING VOTE SHARE

Its 20.52% vote share compared to 22.14% of RJD, has set alarm bells ringing among BJP leaders.

The main opposition party in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal, despite winning just four seats in the general elections, got the maximum vote share among all the parties in the state-22.14%.

This has set alarm bells ringing among BJP leaders, in a state which goes to the polls next year in October.

In contrast, the BJP got| 20.52% votes while its ally Janata Dal (United) received 18.52% votes and the Lok Jan Shakti Party 6.47% votes.

In 2019, the BJP had got 23.58%, which was almost 6% less than what it had won in 2014 elections which was 29.40.

The trend indicates that the BJP's vote share has declined almost 10% between 2014 and 2024.

The declining trend was also visible in the Assembly elections when it got 19.46% votes in 2020, a fall of almost 5% from 2014 when it had got 24.4% of the total votes polled.

If this trend is an indicator, the BJPs' vote share is likely to dip in the upcoming Assembly polls by at least 4-5%.

On the other hand, the RJD had got 15.36% votes in the 2019 general elections which rose by 7% this time.

Similarly, in the 2015 Assembly polls, its vote share was 18.4%, which climbed to 23.11% in the 2020 Assembly polls.

In the 2019 polls, the three parties BJP, JDU and the LJP had won 39 of the 40 seats. State BJP leaders, led by state president Samrat Chowdhary, till the day of the polling, had shared a positive feedback to the party leadership in Delhi and claimed that the NDA was sweeping all 40 seats.

This created a false sense of confidence among the party leadership.

Two sitting ministers of the state cabinet, both from the BJP, while responding to The Sunday Guardian's queries of the I.N.D.I Alliance performing well on at least 7-8 seats had dismissed the reading as "false" and stated that while party workers and voters were not as enthused this time, the NDA was still going to win 40 seats because of the popularity of Modi.