Overconfidence hurt BJP’s hopes in LS polls: Adityanath at party meet

It was “overconfidence” that hurt the BJP’s hopes in Uttar Pradesh in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday (July 14) during a meeting of the party’s state unit, the first major one to be held since the polls.

Bypoll debacle

Addressing the BJP’s UP working committee meeting in Lucknow, Adityanath said while the BJP managed to maintain its vote share of the previous elections, there was a “shifting of votes”, and now the “defeated” Opposition is “jumping around” again.

Adityanath’s remarks came a day after the BJP-led NDA’s dismal performance in by-elections in seven states. Opposition INDIA bloc members won the bypolls to 10 of the 13 Assembly constituencies in seven states, while the BJP managed to bag only two. An Independent pocketed one. The Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the Assembly bypolls in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.

Shifting of votes

“Under the leadership of PM [Narendra] Modi, we had maintained constant pressure on the Opposition in UP, achieving great success in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2022 (national and state elections),” the chief minister said.

“The BJP was successful in getting the same percentage of votes in 2024 as it got in 2014 (Lok Sabha) and the subsequent elections, but the shifting of votes and overconfidence hurt our expectations,” he said.

Resurgent Opposition

“The Opposition, which had earlier accepted defeat, is again jumping around today,” the chief minister said at the concluding session of the day-long meeting at Ambedkar Auditorium of Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University in Lucknow.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 33 seats, down from 62 it clinched in 2019. The Congress won six seats, while its INDIA bloc ally Samajwadi Party bagged 37 seats from UP, which sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament.

“No need to go on backfoot”

Adityanath said the BJP does not have to “go on the backfoot” since it has done good work.

Addressing party workers, he said, “When you were in the Opposition, you used to fight for the issues of the people. When you were in government, you saw the security environment in UP. Remember, roads used to be empty during Muharram, and today, it is being held without attracting any attention.”

Praising law and order in the state, Adityanath said, “After the 2022 (UP Assembly) elections, the Opposition started jumping around and resorted to violence. But with your support in our government’s ‘Mafia-free UP’ campaign, we succeeded in freeing the state from goons and mafia.”

(With agency inputs)