The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two major political parties in India and has been the ruling party since the 16th Lok Sabha. It was seeking re-election in the 2019 parliamentary election as the leading party of the National Democratic Alliance, with Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate and party president Amit Shah as the campaign chief.
| Campaign | 2019 Indian general election |
|---|---|
| PM Candidate | Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India |
| Affiliation | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Status | Prime Ministerial candidate |
| Key people | Narendra Modi (Prime Ministerial Candidate) Amit Shah (Party President) |
| Website | |
| www.bjp.org | |
Background
editThe campaign follows the successful campaign in 2014, where the BJP won a majority of the seats in the Lok Sabha.
On 26 December 2018, Party President Amit Shah announced the leadership teams for the BJP's campaign in seventeen states.[1]
The BJP released its manifesto, titled Sankalp Patra on 8 April.[2][3]
Results
edit| State | Total Seats | Seats Won | Seat Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) | 1 | 0 |  1
|
| Andhra Pradesh | 25 | 0 | 2
|
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2 | 2 |  1
|
| Assam | 14 | 9 | 2
|
| Bihar | 40 | 17 | 5
|
| Chandigarh (UT) | 1 | 1 | 
|
| Chhattisgarh | 11 | 9 | 1
|
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) | 1 | 0 | 1
|
| Daman & Diu (UT) | 1 | 1 |
|
| Goa | 2 | 1 | 1
|
| Gujarat | 26 | 26 |
|
| Haryana | 10 | 10 | 3
|
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 4 |
|
| Jammu & Kashmir | 6 | 3 |
|
| Jharkhand | 14 | 11 | 1
|
| Karnataka | 28 | 25 | 8
|
| Kerala | 20 | 0 |
|
| Lakshadweep (UT) | 1 | 0 |
|
| Madhya Pradesh | 29 | 28 | 1
|
| Maharashtra | 48 | 23 |
|
| Manipur | 2 | 1 | 1
|
| Meghalaya | 2 | 0 |
|
| Mizoram | 1 | 0 |
|
| Nagaland | 1 | 0 |
|
| NCT of Delhi | 7 | 7 |
|
| Orissa | 21 | 8 | 8
|
| Puducherry (UT) | 1 | 0 |
|
| Punjab | 13 | 2 |
|
| Rajasthan | 25 | 24 |
|
| Sikkim | 1 | 0 |
|
| Tamil Nadu | 39 | 0 | 1
|
| Telangana | 17 | 4 | 3
|
| Tripura | 2 | 2 | 2
|
| Uttar Pradesh | 80 | 62 | 9
|
| Uttarakhand | 5 | 5 |
|
| West Bengal | 42 | 18 | 16
|
| Total | 543 | 303 | 21
|
Main Bhi Chowkidar
editModi responded to Rahul Gandhi's Chowkidar Chor Hai jibe by launching a campaign with the slogan "Main bhi chowkidar" (Hindi: मैं भी चोकीदार।, transl. "I too am a watchman") for his supporters, inferring that everyone is a fighter against corruption and social evils.[4] Modi even changed the name of his official Twitter handle titled 'Narendra Modi' to 'Chowkidar Narendra Modi'.[5]
In a coordinated campaign, ministers, party president Amit Shah and other BJP leaders such as Piyush Goyal changed their Twitter profile names by adding a prefix "Chowkidar".[6] Many supporters of BJP also changed their names accordingly.[7] Modi addressed a large group of watchmen on audio link as part of the campaign.[8]
Leadership
editAlliance
editBJP had formed an alliance with other parties to form NDA.
Issues
editRam temple
editThe BJP supports the building of a Ram temple on the disputed land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. It was seen that the party campaigned heavily on the issue during the election. It was viewed that prime minister Narendra Modi and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath were pushing for the construction of the Ram temple to garner the majority Hindu vote.[9][10][11]
Manifesto
editBJP constituted the manifesto committee on 6 January 2019, to be headed by Rajnath Singh. 15 sub-committees were planned to be formed under the main committee to form the manifesto. Other key members of the committee were Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Piyush Goyal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Sushil Modi, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Meenakshi Lekhi.[12] The inputs for manifesto were taken by crowd sourcing wherein around 7,500 suggestion boxes were placed in 4,000 assembly constituencies and ferried in 300 buses or raths.[13]
Jammu and Kashmir
editThe BJP in April announced if it were to be reelected, then it would be ending Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status, which prevents non-residents from buying property in Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.[14][15][16]
Parliamentary candidates
editReferences
edit- ^ "Amit Shah Announces Team To Steer BJP's 2019 Election Campaign In 17 States". HuffPost India. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ "PM Modi, Amit Shah Launch BJP Manifesto Sankalp Patra". NDTV.com. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- ^ "BJP Manifesto 2019". Retrieved 8 April 2019.
- ^ "Narendra Modi urges supporters to take 'main bhi chowkidar' pledge". The Telegraph. India. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ "'Chowkidar Narendra Modi': PM changes Twitter handle name to counter Rahul Gandhi's chor jibe". The Economic Times. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ "मोदी 'चौकीदार' तो 'चौकीदार का मालिक' कौन". 19 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "In A New Gimmick, PM Changes Twitter Profile Name To 'Chowkidar Narendra Modi'". 17 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "Mayawati delivers election shock". 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- ^ "The BJP has fallen back on the Ram temple in its bid for electoral victory". The Telegraph. India. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ "BJP-RSS plays temple card to swing general elections its way". The Shillong Times. 2 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ Shukla, Nelanshu (18 January 2019). "No Ram temple means no vote for BJP, warn sadhus". India Today. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
- ^ "BJP manifesto panel decides to form 15 sub-committees for 2019 polls". India Today. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- ^ "BJP crowdsources its manifesto, turns it into referendum on Prime Minister". The Times of India. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- ^ "BJP releases manifesto for upcoming elections". Al Jazeera.
- ^ "Ahead of Indian Election Modi's party vows to strip Kashmir of Special rights". Channelnews.Asia. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ "PM makes Kashmir as election issue". TNN World.
External links
edit- "BJP's Manifesto for 2019 General Elections" (PDF). The Times of India. Retrieved 28 September 2021.