The Bharatiya Janata Party faced reverses in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab but was able to hold on to the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand .
Out of 112 seats in these states, the BJP managed to win only 47 seats. In the 2019 elections, the party was victorious in 83 seats. The biggest shocker was in UP where the party could manage to win only 33 seats out of 80. In the last election the party’s tally was 62.
The poor show in UP by the BJP has been attributed to overconfdence and bad planning. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress managed to wrest seats which were supposed to be the stronghold of the safron party. The BJP not only failed to expand it base it infact lost its base to the SP.
The SP with its social engineering formula expanded its support base and made inroads into BJP base, including the eastern part considered the bastion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Out of 62 seats the SP contested, the party gave only fve seats to Yadavs but gave 27 seats to nonYadav OBCs, 15 Dalits, four Muslims, and 11 upper caste leaders. It is interesting to note that of the 12 Union ministers who contested from UP, only fve could manage to save their seats. Ministers who won also saw their vote share declining.
In Haryana, the BJP could manage to win only fve seats out of a total of 10 seats. In the 2019 election, it had won all the 10 seats. The Congress was able to break through the safron fortress, winning fve seats. In Himachal (4 seats), the BJP was able to retain all the four seats it had won in 2019.
In Uttarakhand (5 seats) also the BJP was able retain all the fve seats. In Punjab, the BJP drew a blank this time. In the last election it had won two seats out of a total of 13 seats. In the NCT of Delhi, the safron party retained all the seven seats it had won in 2019.
In the UT of J&K (5 seats), the BJP and National Conference won two seats each, while an Independent won the ffth seat. Two former chief ministers, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, lost the elections. In the UT of Ladakh, the lone seat was won by Independent candidate Haji Hanifa Jan.
The lone UT of Chandigarh seat was wrested by the Congress from the BJP. Manish Tewari won the seat.
