This election, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured more seats than it did in the last two elections combined, taking its tally to 282 seats, the highest by a single party since the 1984 election, when the assassination of the sitting Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, triggered a massive sympathy wave across the country. The party’s 2014 vote-share too was over 1.5 times that of its 2009 vote-share, with nearly every third vote cast in the country going to the party.
The swing in the vote-share away from the Congress was smaller than the swing in the vote-share towards the BJP. The winning party’s gain since 2009 was almost equal to the Congress’ loss.
The BJP’s biggest win came from Uttar Pradesh, where it won 71 seats despite a big coalition partner, the best performance by a single party in the State with 80 seats since 1984 when the Congress won 83 of 85 seats. The BJP also improved its vote-share in States where it did not have a substantial presence, with 22% in Odisha, 17% in West Bengal and over 10% in Kerala. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are now the only two big States where the party does not yet have a presence.
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The BJP consolidated its position in States where it has grown strong, shutting the Congress entirely out of Gujarat and Rajasthan and almost entirely out of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. So strong was the wave that the BJP managed huge victories in States where contesting without allies has been unthinkable with the rise of regional parties, picking up 22 seats in Bihar — despite going solo — and a huge tally in Uttar Pradesh.
Moreover, the BJP’s wins were comprehensive right down to the seat level. The party won only one seat by less than 5,000 votes and won 195 seats by over 1 lakh votes.
Not only did the Congress do worse than it ever has, its current and past allies did equally badly.
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