The BJP did not win big in Meghalaya and as a matter of fact in spite of all the hype, the party’s performance is much worse than expected. This column has predicted that BJP will not cross the two digit mark and the party will win at least five seats out of the 59 seats it contested in the election to the Meghalaya state assembly. But the party could win only two seats.
It was expected that the party will definitely perform better than the 2013 election. BJP’s in-charge of Meghalaya Alphonse has moved every nook and corner of the state to campaign for the party but that did not bear fruit at all. In spite of engaging the entire state party machineries in the election campaign, BJP was not able to perform better than it did last time.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma also failed to lift the party’s poll prospects in the recently concluded Assembly elections. This is evident when only two of its candidates could manage to win.
A proper analysis of the election result will also help us realise that the party has not only performed very badly, but in fact the BJP did not win any seat at all in the last election to the Meghalaya state assembly. In spite of winning only two seats; it is only correct to say that the BJP score in the last election is zero. The party in fact did not win any seats at all, curious? Let us try to explain.
The two candidates who have helped the BJP win the two seats are on a winning streak anyway. They have been winning almost all the elections that they have contested. AL Hek and Sanbor Shullai have been winning from their respective constituencies no matter from which party they contested. In the past Sanbor Shullai has won as an independent candidate and also as an NCP candidate too to represent his constituency in the state assembly. He has even succeeded in getting his nephew elected as an MDC, the office that he had vacated last year.
AL Hek won his election on a BJP ticket and then resigned and joined the Congress and contested the election as a Congress candidate and won the election. And again last year he resigned from the Congress and contested from the same constituency on a BJP ticker and came out successful again. It is therefore safe to say that the duo won the election only because of their personal influences and charisma, the BJP has nothing to do with it.
This is now more apparent when all the BJP candidates in the state including some of the sitting MLAs lost their seats in the election; but the duo still managed to get through in spite of all odds. In spite of the adverse campaign against the party, Sanbor Shullai and AL Hek managed to sail through which only confirm that their wining is because of their own accord.
Yet in spite of performing very badly in the election, it seems that the BJP is not so much worried at the party’s poor performance. The question is —- why is the BJP still in a celebrating mode especially during the government formation in spite of doing very badly in the election?
The party in fact has no reason to cheer from the last election result because it has lost from all the constituencies that it has contested except the two. The party’s Congress-mukt (Congress-free Meghalaya) propaganda also did not work because as predicted the Congress still emerged as the single largest party in the state. The only consolidation for the BJP is although the party was not able to wipe out the Congress in the election; yet it has been able to defeat the party in government formation.
The only reason to cheer for the BJP in spite of the embarrassing lost is because it has been able to help install a Congress-free and NPP-led coalition government in the state. Obviously the BJP although it was defeated in Meghalaya it found solace only on its NDA partner’s victory, it is therefore only dancing to someone else’s tune in Meghalaya.
HH Mohrmen is a freelance writer and environment activist based in Jowai, Meghalaya. He can be reached at hhmohremen@gmail.com