BJP-Sena aim at repeating clean sweep performance in Vidarbha
| Date :01-Apr-2019 |
By Kartik Lokhande,
Well in tune with the national mood, Vidarbha gave a clear mandate to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (SS) alliance in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It was a historic clean sweep for BJP-Sena in Vidarbha as the alliance won all 10 seats in the region, which was a Congress bastion for long. In 2019, with a never-before push to developmental works in the region, BJP-SS combine aim at repeating the ‘clean sweep’ performance of 2014. A look at the history and statistics of Lok Sabha election results in Vidarbha reveals some interesting details.
The region was treated as a Congress bastion. For, it had won all seats in the Lok Sabha elections held in 1951, 1957, 1980, 1984, and 1998. Except for 1996 elections, when BJP-SS alliance had won nine out of total 11 seats in the region and Congress could win only two seats, the show was dominated only by Congress and its allies including Republican Party of India (RPI). Some political observers link the long-time domination of Congress party and its allies to demographic composition of the electorate in Vidarbha region.
Dalits, Muslims, Other Backward Classes, and tribals had been treated to be traditional vote-bank of Congress and allies. However, over the years, with changing economic scenario the factors that started mattering more for the electorate were development and livelihood. Besides, BJP and Shiv Sena both continued to expand their work in the region. While BJP was successful in adding more votes to its tally every election in Nagpur and Amravati Divisions, SS grew stronger especially in West Vidarbha (Amravati Division). BJP tasted its first success in the year 1989, when three of its candidates got elected to Lok Sabha.
They included Pandurang Phundkar from Akola, Sukhdeo Kale from Buldhana, and Khushal Bopche from Bhandara. Phundkar continued the winning streak for BJP from Akola constituency in 1991 elections too, but Bopche lost. Then came 1996, when BJP won six seats and Shiv Sena won three. BJP candidates who got elected then included Pandurang Phundkar from Akola, Banwarilal Purohit from Nagpur (the first ever BJP MP from Nagpur), Namdev Diwate from Chimur, Hansraj Ahir from Chandrapur, Vijay Mude from Wardha, and Rajabhau Thakre from Yavatmal. Shiv Sena’s winning candidates included Anand Adsul from Buldana, Pundalikrao Gawali from Washim, and Anant Gudhe from Amravati. Though BJP-SS could not win a single seat in 1998 elections, BJP and Shiv Sena candidates finished a close second in all the constituencies in Vidarbha, indicating that their voter-base was steadily growing.
However, Congress and allies could not maintain the stellar performance of 1998 in 1999. SS wrested four seats and BJP wrested two from Congress and allies. BJP won six seats and SS won four seats, while the tally of Congress was reduced to only one -- Vilas Muttemwar from Nagpur -- in 2004 elections. In 2009 also, SS won four seats and BJP won two. And, then came 2014, when BJP and SS won all 10 seats in Vidarbha region, and Congress and allies’ tally was reduced to zero for the first time. Now, in 2019, it would be interesting to watch if BJP-SS combine maintains its tally in Vidarbha region. But, from the statistics of previous elections, it is clear that Congress and its allies will have to work pretty hard to shock the ruling BJP-SS alliance.