Non-cooperation from state government employees to the sitting MPs, party workers working against them, and the false narrative that the Constitution would be changed were among the prominent reasons cited by the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidates of Uttar Pradesh for the party’s poor performance in their respective seats, sources said.
With the BJP managing to win only 33 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 elections, 29 seats down compared to the 2019 polls, the BJP’s state unit has started looking into the reasons for its poor performance and is likely to submit a report to the central leadership by the end of this week.
Besides seeking feedback from the candidates in a sealed envelope, the BJP has also formed a task force of 40 leaders to evaluate the party’s performance in the 78 seats, sources said.
Barring Varanasi and Lucknow — the two high profile seats represented by PM Modi and Rajnath Singh — the performance review would be done on all the other seats, sources said. The party’s senior leaders, including its state unit chief Bhupendra Chaudhary, are engaged in this review exercise. Chaudhary is looking into the reasons for defeat in three high profile seats — Amethi, Faizabad (which includes Ayodhya) and Ballia.
Smriti Irani lost to Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma in Amethi. The defeat in Faizabad was an ideological setback for the BJP as Ayodhya comes under this constituency and the BJP fulfilled the long-time agenda of building a Ram temple in this historic town.
Party workers would also coordinate and take feedback from the RSS and its allied organisations, sources said. Many BJP candidates have submitted their feedback to the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit. They have stated that the false narrative that the Constitution would be changed and reservation abolished if the BJP comes to power, were one of the reasons for their defeat.
Non-cooperation from government employees and a section of BJP workers in their respective constituencies working against them, were among the major reasons cited by BJP candidates for their defeat. The candidates have also pointed out that several public rallies on caste lines by the Thakurs and their mobilisation also worked against the BJP.
