260: By-Election Blow for BJP
Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS
19 September 2014
Less than a month after a setback in a round of by-elections in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) has suffered greater embarrassment in another set of bypolls, the results of which were
announced on 16 September 2014. Of particular significance was the BJP's performance in the
state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where it won only three out of 11 Assembly seats, 10 of which were
earlier held by the party. The big winner in UP was the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) which won
eight seats disproving critics who had written the party off. Elsewhere too, the BJP did much
worse than expected, losing three out of four seats in Rajasthan and three out of nine seats in
Gujarat. The results have come as a surprise since in all three states the BJP had done
exceptionally well in the national elections held earlier this year, winning 71 out of 80 seats in
UP and completing a clean sweep in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The only real bright spot for the BJP
in the latest round of bypolls was the seat it won in West Bengal, making it the first time in 13
years that the party will have a representative in the state Assembly.