WHAT THIS VERDICT MEANS

SAFFRON CONSOLIDATION:

WELFARE STATE:

NATIONALIST APPEAL:

DECISIVE VERDICTS:

ASPIRATIONAL INDIA:

MUSLIM ISOLATION:

NUMBERS SAY IT ALL

224

15

81.8 %

15

10

20

100%

NEW DELHI: BJP added 6.4% to its 2014 vote share, taking it to 37.4% — almost twice the Congress vote share of 19.5% which was 0.2% higher than 2014. In Hindi heartland, BJP won 141 seats (71% of contested) with more than 50% vote share; BSP managed an all-India vote share of 3.7%.The vote is a huge thumbs-up for PM Modi’s “Hindutva plus vikas” politics. Battles over beef bans and Nehru, appropriation of Sardar Patel and Ambedkar, and promotion of regional icons along with “secular” initiatives like building roads and toilets pay off..A key reason for Modi’s win is his credibility with the poor. A raft of welfare schemes aimed at delivering cooking gas and power connections, besides health insurance, bank accounts, and income support for farmers , created a large and loyal constituency that cut across caste lines to Modi’s benefit.BJP projected Modi as a decisive leader, with strong national security credentials, which was greatly magnified after Pulwama and Balakot . BJP attacked Congress as weak on terrorism, and Modi countered the charge of being divisive by forging a constituency unabashed in its support for muscular nationalism, isolating the opposition on an emotive issue.There appears to be a trend for clear verdicts at the national level, which means coalitions are out of favour. Voters prefer a party and a leader with an unambiguous message and are wary of a “khichdi” government hurting governance and economy. The role of regional parties at the national level has shrunk, though they remain relevant in state elections.Caste will not vanish from Indian politics, but the scale of BJP’s win underlines the emergence of a newer, upwardly mobile constituency in rural and urban India. It is not overly enamoured of dynastic and handout politics and sees Modi as a leader who can claim India’s rightful place on the world stage. Opportunities, growth and national pride are important drivers for this class.The number of Muslim MPs in Parliament has risen, with SP and BSP picking up seats, but overall in states where the community has traditionally affected results — UP, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala , Bihar and Maharashtra — their influence has waned. BJP overcame the “Muslim veto” to forge caste and class coalitions around its upper-caste support.seats where BJP’s vote share exceeded 50% compared to 136 in 2014.states & UTs in which BJP and its allies won more than 50% of votes.of seats retained by BJP against 37.2% by Congress.seats won by a margin of over 5 lakh; (highest margin of 6,89,668 by C R Patil of BJP in Gujarat ’s Navsari); it was six seats in 2014.states & UTs in which NDA won all the seats; it missed a clean sweep in Bihar, MP by a whisker.states & UTs in which Congress hasn’t won a single seat. It has double-digit tally in just one state: Kerala.strike rate for DMK, the only major party to win every seat it contested base to re-engineer politics.