Expanding footprint: BJP's aspiration to be 'Bharatiya' Janata Party

The party has expanded its presence but its performance in state elections falls far short of its Lok Sabha report card

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might not have been able to take West Bengal away from Trinamool Congress or open its account in Kerala, but the latest polls show that it has succeeded in expanding its footprint across the country.
 
In Tamil Nadu, it was able to grab four of the 20 seats it contested. In Puducherry, it has a presence in one-fifth of the assembly seats; it won every second seat that it contested. While West Bengal was a disappointment, its vote share has risen fourfold compared to the 2016 Assembly elections.
 
However, when compared to the national elections, the party's performance seems lacklustre. A Business Standard analysis shows that it has an average 27 per cent vote share across states in the last five years, whereas in the 2019 national election, it polled 37.9 per cent of total votes. Similarly, in West Bengal, its vote share in the recently concluded state elections was 38.13 per cent as compared to 40.64 per cent during the general election two years ago. In Kerala, too, it polled nearly two percentage points lower (11 per cent) than the general election average.