Around noon, an irate Kiran Bedi emerged from her house to tell reporters that she hadn't lost the election, the Bharatiya Janata Party had. Handpicked as the party’s chief ministerial candidate just weeks ahead of the election, Bedi had been given a ticket from Krishna Nagar, the seat that the BJP had never lost. But there were no safe seats left for the BJP in what’s turned out to be an unprecedented landslide verdict in Delhi, and one that had barely been matched in all of Indian election history.
The BJP’s tally has come down to just three seats. For the critics of the Modi government, the verdict is a decisive rejection of everything from the politics of polarisation to the cult of the personality.
Even the supporters of the party took the chance to express their views frankly.
Some blamed the defeat on favours given to a “community” but for a change this wasn’t a reference to a religious minority.
Chandra brought out in the open the undercurrent of resentment building up in Delhi over the “takeover” by Gujaratis. North Indian traders and businessmen, many of them staunch BJP supporters, who had worked hard to elect their own government at the centre, found in the last few months that their access to the seat of power had shrunk, instead of expanding. For the Dilliwala, the last-minute anointment of Bedi as chief ministerial candidate came as a final reminder that the networks of power and patronage needed to be safeguarded from a decisive cultural shift.
But this chart shows why the BJP should not lose heart: despite the unrest in the party, its support base stayed intact. On account of a higher turnout, it actually picked up more votes than the 2013 assembly election.
The BJP in Delhi has in fact become a victim of the same system that propelled the party in 2014 to its first clear national majority. If the first-past-the-post system of Indian elections gave Modi a larger than life image – the party won just 31% votes in 2014 but bagged 51.9% seat share – the same system has now cut it down to size.
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The BJP’s tally has come down to just three seats. For the critics of the Modi government, the verdict is a decisive rejection of everything from the politics of polarisation to the cult of the personality.
Modi paying price for 3 major blunders of his tenure: playing with secular fabric, misplaced swachh bharat & arrogance with anti-welfarism
— Vinod K. Jose (@vinodjose) February 10, 2015Modi suited, and BJP booted!
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) February 10, 2015Modi Sarkar has 2 options after Delhi. A sharp turn towards the reforms it has largely ignored so far. Or try to be Kejriwal-lite.
— Mihir Sharma (@mihirssharma) February 10, 2015Even the supporters of the party took the chance to express their views frankly.
Did I get Swapan Dasgupta right when he said on NDTV, BJP defeat in Delhi will set off demand 4 Modi's resignation as PM? Wishful thinking? — Madhu Kishwar (@madhukishwar) February 7, 2015For the Modi government, a good, forward-looking budget is not just necessary, it is now absolutely non-negotiable — Ashok Malik (@MalikAshok) February 10, 2015Some blamed the defeat on favours given to a “community” but for a change this wasn’t a reference to a religious minority.
BJP president's belief in a community is one of the reason for defeat in Delhi
— Dr. Subhash Chandra (@_SubhashChandra) February 10, 2015Chandra brought out in the open the undercurrent of resentment building up in Delhi over the “takeover” by Gujaratis. North Indian traders and businessmen, many of them staunch BJP supporters, who had worked hard to elect their own government at the centre, found in the last few months that their access to the seat of power had shrunk, instead of expanding. For the Dilliwala, the last-minute anointment of Bedi as chief ministerial candidate came as a final reminder that the networks of power and patronage needed to be safeguarded from a decisive cultural shift.
But this chart shows why the BJP should not lose heart: despite the unrest in the party, its support base stayed intact. On account of a higher turnout, it actually picked up more votes than the 2013 assembly election.
The BJP in Delhi has in fact become a victim of the same system that propelled the party in 2014 to its first clear national majority. If the first-past-the-post system of Indian elections gave Modi a larger than life image – the party won just 31% votes in 2014 but bagged 51.9% seat share – the same system has now cut it down to size.
