BJP fought 50 more seats, saw just 1% rise in vote share

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, March 12

While the BJP claims its performance in the Assembly elections is another feather in its cap, the party seems to have failed to make major impact on the ground.

The party had contested 50 more seats this time, as compared to 2017, but saw just over 1% increase in its vote share. Compared to the last polls, the party’s performance this time remained dismal.

The party contested 73 seats and polled 6.60% votes. In 2017, when the BJP had contested just 23 seats, it had got 5.43% votes, showing an increase of 1% in its vote share. In fact, the party’s best performance was in 1992, when it got 16.48% votes. But the elections were held amid a boycott call by militants.

Further, the party lost security deposit on 74% of the seats this time. Of the 73 seats, BJP candidates lost security deposit on 54. This belies state general secretary Jiwan Gupta’s claim that not only did the vote share increase, but it offered stiff contest on most seats.