Though BJP national president Amit Shah attributed the victory to the Modi wave, the party has recorded a sharp fall of 13.5 per cent in vote share compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls that was credited to the Modi wave. The party had polled 53.85 per cent of votes in the parliamentary elections.
Polls | Turnout (%) | BJP vote share (%) | Congress vote share (%) | JDS vote share (%) |
2015 BBMP polls | 49.3 | 40.35 | 39.3 | 13.16 |
2014 Lok Sabha polls | 55.95 | 53.85 | 37.04 | 3.91 |
2010 BBMP polls | 44.04 | 38.79 | 35.04 | 15.00 |
Though Congress was unable to capture power, it registered a slight improvement in vote share (39.3 per cent) as compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls (37.04 per cent). Perhaps reflecting the different nature of Lok Sabha and civic body polls, JD (S) recorded a jump of 9.25 per cent in its vote share in this election while it was marginalised in the Lok Sabha polls (3.91 per cent).
Political analyst Sandeep Shastri told The Hindu that analysis of vote share and the decline in the number of seats for the BJP, as compared to its tally in the 2010 civic polls, showed that it was not the natural first choice of the voter. “It doesn’t seem to be ‘the BJP that won the polls. It was Congress that lost; the BJP won by default,” he explained adding that Congress snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Former deputy chief minister R. Ashoka, who led the BJP campaign, said the victory polls should be seen in the light of the fact that for the first time in 30 years in the State an opposition party has bucked the trend and come to power in a civic body. “Besides this, Lok Sabha and BBMP polls are fought on different issues,” he said.
