The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a significant setback in Uttar Pradesh during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, securing only 33 seats compared to over 60 seats in the previous election. Since the loss, the party has been deliberating on the reasons behind the poor performance. On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and presented a detailed report on the reasons for the defeat.
Chaudhary submits report to PM Modi
During the meeting, Chaudhary provided an extensive report on the election results in Uttar Pradesh. As per the information, the meeting between the two leaders lasted approximately 45 minutes. According to sources, Prime Minister Modi enquired about the reasons mentioned in the report for the poor results. They said Chaudhary explained the reasons for the disappointing performance in detail as he prepared a comprehensive 15-page report after speaking to nearly 40,000 party workers.
Report outlines potential reasons for loss
The UP BJP chief's report highlighted the dissatisfaction among party workers and the administration as the primary reasons for the poor performance. Another issue was the removal of BJP voters' names from the voter list. The report stated that the discontent among the workers, caused by the administration's attitude, led to their inactivity during the election. Additionally, instances of some officials allegedly assisting Opposition candidates were also mentioned in the report.
Further, the report submitted to Prime Minister Modi indicated that the lack of government job recruitments over the past several years also contributed to the party's loss. It further mentioned peculiar caste alignments, with specific trends observed in different constituencies. In many constituencies, even castes that traditionally supported BJP did not vote for the party's candidates, indicating either worker apathy or internal sabotage, the report added.
BJP braces for upcoming bypolls
Earlier on Wednesday (July 17), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also convened a meeting with his cabinet ministers in Lucknow. During the meeting, the CM instructed everyone to prepare for the upcoming bypolls, as per the information. Additionally, he directed all ministers to spend two nights a week in their respective areas of responsibility.
The 10 assembly seats, which are set to go to bypolls, are Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).
Nine of the 10 seats fell vacant after the MLAs resigned following their victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Prominent among these seats was Karhal (Mainpuri), which fell vacant after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned following his elections to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj.
