BJP`s performance changes political map of north, west India

New Delhi: The record performance of BJP in the Lok Sabha elections has changed the political contours of the northern and western regions of the country with parties such as Congress and regional players SP, BSP, NC, JD (U) and NCP virtually mauled in these states.

Mayawati`s Bahujan Samaj Party and Farooq Abdullah`s National Conference have been literally wiped out in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir respectively with the unprecedented saffron surge that has contributed to a great deal in catapulting BJP to power at the Centre. Altogether the 10 states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat account for 288 seats in the Lok Sabha. BJP and its allies will now have a lion`s share in these states in the 16th Lok Sabha which could be formed in the coming week. While regional players have suffered at the hands of BJP and its allies in these states, Lok Sabha elections debutant Aam Aadmi Party managed to get four seats in Punjab. The party failed to open its account in other states including Delhi where it had formed a government with outside support of Congress. In battle state Uttar Pradesh, BJP surpassed its previous best of 57 seats it managed in 1998. This time, the BJP won 71 seats and in the process decimated Congress, SP and BSP. While BSP and RLD failed to even open their accounts, Congress was restricted to Rae Bareli and Amethi represented by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi. SP`s presence in Uttar Pradesh, where it is the ruling party, has been restricted to the Yadav family. Out of the five states it won, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav emerged victorious from two -- Mainpuri and Azamgarh. It would be interesting to see which seat he vacates. In the outgoing Lok Sabha, BSP had 21 MPs, SP 23 and Congress 22. BJP had nine seats. Its ally Apna Dal has won two seats. RLD, a UPA ally, had five MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha. Its chief and Union minister Ajit Singh and his son Jayant have lost the electoral battle this time. In Bihar, where BJP had fought the last Lok Sabha elections with JD (U), it has won 22 seats this time. Its ally, Ram Vilas Paswan`s LJP also managed six seats. JD (U), which parted ways with NDA recently, fared badly by winning two seats. RJD, which had tied with Congress this time, won four seats. The Congress has won two. In the last general elections, JD(U) had bagged 20 seats. RJD managed to retain its tally of four, though party chief Lalu Prasad`s daughter and wife lost elections. In Jammu and Kashmir, BJP won three out of six seats. The other three went to PDP. National Conference, which had three seats in the outgoing Lok Sabha, failed to open its account. Party chief Farooq Abdullah lost the Srinagar seat to PDP. Congress too, which had two seats, failed open its account. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad lost the electoral battle from Udhampur. In Punjab, BJP marginally improved its performance by winning two seats as compared to the one it had grabbed in 2009. Congress, which had won 8 seats in 2009 was reduced to three constituencies this time. SAD, an NDA ally, maintained its tally of four. Lok Sabha poll debutant AAP has won four seats in the state this time.  In Haryana, where BJP had no seats in 2009, its tally rose to seven this time. Congress, with nine seats, has now been restricted to one. INLD has this time won two seats in Haryana where Congress is the ruling party. In Gujarat, it is BJP all the way as the party has won all the 26 seats. It was 17 BJP and nine Congress in the last Lok Sabha polls. Modi has won the Vadodara seat by a record margin of over five lakh. Same is the story in Rajasthan where BJP has won all the 25 seats. Congress, with 19 seats in the state last time, has been wiped out. The remaining four seats had BJP MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha. In Chhattisgarh, the equations remain unchanged as as BJP again has ten MPs and Congress one. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP has improved its tally from 13 to 27, while Congress has been reduced from 11 to two. BSP, which had one MP from the state in the outgoing House has been wiped out. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra turned in its best ever showing in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, winning 42 of the state`s 48 seats. While BJP got 23, Sena 18 and Swabhimani Paksha 1, Congress managed to garner just two and NCP four, their poorest ever showing. In the previous elections in 2009, the ruling combination of Congress-NCP had secured 25 seats, BJP-Shiv Sena had 20 in their kitty. The only other time in the last six general elections when Congress outperformed BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was in 1998, before Sharad Pawar walked out of Congress and floated NCP after rebelling over issue of Sonia Gandhi`s foreign origin.