ISAS Insights

Less than a month after a setback in a round of by-elections in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered greater embarrassment in another set of bypolls, the results of which were announced on 16 September 2014. Of particular significance was the BJP's performance in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) where it won only three out of 11 Assembly seats, 10 of which were earlier held by the party. The big winner in UP was the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) which won eight seats disproving critics who had written the party off. Elsewhere too, the BJP did much worse than expected, losing three out of four seats in Rajasthan and three out of nine seats in Gujarat. The results have come as a surprise since in all three states the BJP had done exceptionally well in the national elections held earlier this year, winning 71 out of 80 seats in UP and completing a clean sweep in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The only real bright spot for the BJP in the latest round of bypolls was the seat it won in West Bengal, making it the first time in 13 years that the party will have a representative in the state Assembly.