With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the BJP has increased its electioneering activities to maximum, while Rahul Gandhi's Congress appears sluggish. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party has tied up all loose ends in alliance formation well ahead of the Congress, showing dependable clarity in its campaign points. In the aftermath of the unfortunate Balakot air strike, the BJP has been adopting a confident posture. Currently, the BJP has a clear head start and this might prove critical in the upcoming long-drawn campaign.
The biggest stakes are without a doubt, for the incumbent government as there is no bigger face in the political scenario than Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stands to lose the most after coming to power with a thumping majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Firstly, the party is clear on its issues, be it national security, Lokpal or the leadership position. The Modi-led government recently announced the formation of the Lokpal (anti-corruption ombudsman), one of the many poll promises made by the Prime Minister in 2014.
While the battle pertains to the entire country, there are six states that could make or break the BJP. They are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, along with Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh. Their over-all power on the polls can be ascertained from the fact that they contribute 278 to the 543-seat strong Lower House. It should be noted that the BJP has earned a major piece of their LS success through these states, which is almost 70 per cent of the party's LS seats since 1989.
In the last elections, the BJP's vote share spike exponentially in the above mentioned states, resulting in capturing of a never seen high number of LS seats. While Modi's charisma and his four years of tenure is enough to retain the extraordinary vote share, chances are that Lok Sabha 2019 will be a cakewalk for them. However, some strong alliances in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, can prove to be a dent in the saffron party's tally.
