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BJP Leads Big In Gujarat Civic Polls

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-02-23 07:41:58

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The BJP must be heaving a sigh of relief after its good showing in the Gujarat civic polls. Early leads show that the party is likely to sweep all the municipalities where elections were held. This must come as a shot in the arm for the party before the elections in four states and Puducherry.

Since the party fared poorly in the recent local body polls in Punjab, many commentators had linked it to the ongoing farm agitation and had started saying that it was payback time for the party as the angry farmers would not vote for it across the nation. But they forgot that BJP was never strong in Punjab and was riding on the coattails of the Akali Dal (SAD). Once SAD lost the people's confidence in the last elections and conceded further ground during the farm agitation, it was a given that the anger of the farmers would wipe out both the BJP and the SAD.

But Punjab is not representative of the support the BJP has in other parts of the country. The civic polls in Rajasthan showed that although the state had voted for the Congress in the last elections, the people have not completely turned their back on the BJP. The results in Rajasthan were a mixed bag and although the Congress won a greater number of wards in 19 districts, it did not get a clear majority in them while the BJP won the Ajmer Municipal Corporation by a huge margin. Now the Gujarat leads have confirmed that the farm agitation has not dented the BJPs core constituency.

Since the bigwigs in the party are focusing on the ensuing state elections, especially in West Bengal, Kerala and Assam, the elections in these states will perhaps give an idea which way the wind is blowing. The BJP is certain to retain Assam and is likely to make a good showing in the other two states. While the BJP is upbeat in West Bengal and Prime Minister Modi thinks there will be "asol poriborton" this time as the people will not vote for the TMC, it remains to be seen how far the party has managed to make inroads in the TMC citadel. 

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