Paper leaks, caste factors: What led to BJP loss in Bankipur and Datia?
Bankipur was earlier held by BJP chief Nitin Nabin who vacated it following his election to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) losses in the Bankipur and Datia bypolls can be attributed to a variety of factors, as indicated by multiple party leaders. Among these factors are the disenchantment of upper caste voters, anger over alleged paper leaks during elections, donation theft at the Ram Temple, and internal party issues at the local level.
Bankipur, previously held by the party chief Nitin Nabin, was vacated following his election to the Rajya Sabha. Both Bankipur and Datia were once considered strongholds for the BJP. Prashant Kishor of the Jan Suraaj Party won Bankipur, while the Congress Party's Kuwar Ghanshyam Singh retained the seat in Datia.
The BJP's failure to win even in areas where influential leaders like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nitin Nabin, and Ramkripal Yadav hail from suggests a significant erosion of support from key vote banks. In Bankipur, the BJP's candidate Neeraj Kumar failed to garner support from any single caste group, with issues like the replacement of Nitish Kumar as CM by Samrat Choudhary, and dissatisfaction among Kurmis and Muslims, contributing to this result.
Additionally, the impact of recent student protests cannot be ignored, as many students from Bihar, where the constituency is located, appear to have drifted away from the BJP.
Discontent among upper caste voters stems from issues such as the now-withdrawn UGC guidelines to set up equality committees and equity squads, and the appointment of Samrat Choudhary as the Chief Minister. The BJP's statements that were intended to reflect their hold over the constituency were perceived as arrogant, alienating the urban electorate. Lapses in candidate selection, such as withdrawing Abhishek Kumar Sinha's nomination following an election-related scandal, also played a role in the BJP's defeat.
In Datia, the loss was not solely due to the candidate. Even if Narottam Mishra, a senior BJP leader who had won the seat three times starting from 2008, had been fielded, the BJP would have still lost due to the alienation of the urban constituency. The Kushwaha vote bank supported the Congress candidate after the wife of a murdered BJP leader accused Chief Minister Mohan Yadav of shielding the accused.
The BJP has accepted the mandate but plans to introspect the reasons for the defeat, acknowledging the need for improvement.
Written by urgent.news from Hindustan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
