Assembly Elections 2018: In Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, BJP got more votes but fewer seats

While the Congress basks in the glory of three wins in the Hindi heartland, the hope of a bounce back in 2019 has not diminished in the BJP because of the wafer-thin margin in vote share in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

In Madhya Pradesh, despite an anti-incumbency of 15 years of rule, the BJP managed to beat the Congress in vote share by securing 0.1 per cent more votes. However, it failed to kiss the rope by falling seven seat short in the 230-member assembly.

In Rajasthan too, BJP's vote share was barely 0.5 per cent less than the Congress, but it left a gaping gap of 27 seats for a win in the 199-seat assembly.

While the loss has made the BJP introspect, its forward-looking hardy political machinery is looking for the right formula needed to beat the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The party's general secretary, Murlidhar Rao maintains that sheer chance led to Congress's victory in Madhya Pradesh. BJP candidates lost by a whisker on several seats, which explains why the party lost despite having better vote share than Congress.

"We fought quite well in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan," Rao says, "The defeat could be attributed to fatigue factor after 15 years of rule. It has nothing to do with the agrarian distress as made out by the Congress and other opposition parties."

What could worry BJP is the yawning gap of 10% vote share in Chhattisgarh that reduced the party to just 15 seats from 49 seats in the 2013 assembly polls. Though Congress' vote share rose only by 2.9 per cent compared to last elections, BJP's share saw a steep decline of 8.1 per cent.

"The party will debate the Chhattisgarh debacle," said a BJP source, "but it seems more of a fatigue factor than other reasons such as agrarian distress and unemployment that are being touted as the reasons for Raman Singh's defeat. The government has done a lot of work on these fronts such Fasal Bima, Awas Yojna and Ujjawala scheme. But we are serious and working on our shortcomings that will amply show in the 2019 results."

He also dismissed the analysis that the current assembly loss will make BJP poorer by 45 odd seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls in these three states.