BJP's bad run in Lok Sabha by-polls: Modi-Shah juggernaut have won only 5 times since 2014

The BJP has been in fabulous form in Assembly elections since coming to power in 2014 but they’ve stumbled in by-polls. 4 years back, the Modi wave took them to 282 seats, giving us the first single-party majority government since Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress won a massive mandate with 404 seats in 1984.

The results for the by-elections for four Lok Sabha constituencies and 10 Assembly seats have poured in and it doesn’t look pretty for the BJP juggernaut. As things stand, they will win just 1 Lok Sabha seat – at their frenemy Shiv Sena’s expense – and one assembly seat in Uttarakhand. Instead, they’ve faced reversals in a host of places – ranging from West Bengal to Uttar Pradesh.

Their most high-profile defeat came in Kairana, where Tabassum Hasan, the RLD’s candidate, backed by Congress, SP and BSP, beat BJP’s Mriganka Singh quite handsomely.

While Amit Shah had predicted that the BJP juggernaut would stumble in the bypoll, the defeats will give hope to a beleaguered Opposition who’ve been worried about the saffronisation of the polity.

Including today’s polls, the BJP has only won 5 of the total 27 Lok Sabha byelections in the last 4 years. Along with their NDA allies, they have won six. 

Interestingly, BJP hasn't gained a single LS seat since 2014. The five it has won already had incumbent BJP MPs. On the other hand, Opposition parties have managed to flip 5 BJP seats over the last four years.

The innings look particularly disastrous for UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who earlier lost on his home turf Gorakhpur and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya’s constituency Phulpur in Allahabad. Now they have lost in Kairana, making it three reverses in a row facing an united opposition in India's most important battleground. 

Here are all the bypolls helds since 2014:

THE RESULTS

2014

Beed, Maharashtra

2014: BJP

Bypoll: BJP

Kandhamal, Odisha

2014: BJD

Bypoll: BJD

Medak, Telangana

2014: TRS

Bypoll: TRS

Vadodara, Gujarat

2014: BJP

Bypoll: BJP

Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh

2014: SP

Bypoll: SP


2015


Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh

2015: BJP

Bypoll: INC

Warangal, Telangana

2014: TRS

Bypoll: TRS

Bangaon, West Bengal

2014: AITC

Bypoll: AITC

2016

Lakhimpur, Assam

2014: BJP

Bypoll: BJP
 

Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh

2014: BJP

Bypoll: BJP

Coochbehar, West Bengal

2014: AITC

Bypoll: AITC

Tamluk, West Bengal

2014: AITC

Bypoll: AITC

Tura, Meghalaya

2014: NPP

Bypoll: NPP

2017


Amritsar, Punjab

2014: INC

Bypoll: INC

Gurdaspur, Punjab

2014: BJP

Bypoll: INC

Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

2014: PDP

Bypoll: NC

Malappuram, Kerala

2014: IUML

Bypoll: IUML

2018

Alwar, Rajasthan
2014: BJP
Bypoll: INC

Ajmer, Rajasthan
2014: BJP
Bypoll: INC

Uluberia, West Bengal
2014: AITC
Bypoll: AITC

Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh
2014: BJP
Bypoll: SP

Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh
2014: BJP
Bypoll: SP

Araria, Bihar
2014: RJD
Bypoll: RJD

Kairana, UP

2014: BJP

Bypoll: RLD

Palghar, Maharashtra

2014: BJP

Bypoll: BJP

Bhandara-Gondiya

2014: BJP

Bypoll: NCP

Nagaland

2014: NPF

Bypoll: NDPP