The BJP was today dealt a major blow in the Assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, which it had swept in the Lok Sabha polls four months ago, as it lost 13 of the 23 seats held by it.
Considered yet another test of popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today's reverses come on top of the party's disappointing performance in the assembly by-elections in Bihar, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh in the last two months.
Out of the 32 Assembly seats across nine states for which counting of votes was taken up today, BJP won 12, Congress seven and Samajwadi Party eight while TDP, Trinamool Congress, AIUDF and CPI(M) bagged one each. One seat in Sikkim was won by an Independent. Counting in Antagarh in Chhattisgarh, held by BJP, will be taken up on September 20.
It was Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP was on a high after a near-total sweep of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, that delivered a humiliating blow to the saffron party as it lost seven of the 10 seats held by it as well as one belonging to its ally Apna Dal to the ruling Samajwadi Party.
BSP's absence in the by-elections had made it a virtual straight fight between BJP and SP, which has bounced back after the drubbing in Lok Sabha polls. The saffron party's campaign on issues like 'Love Jihad' also apparently did not bring them any electoral gains.
Equally crushing was the defeat in Rajasthan where BJP conceded three of the four seats to Congress, which also managed to wrest three of the nine seats in Gujarat, where the elections were held for the first time in 12 years sans Narendra Modi.
All the seats in Uttar Pradesh (11), Gujarat (9) and Rajasthan (4) were held by BJP and the bypolls were necessitated after the MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha.
Gloating over BJP's reverses, the Congress and Samajwadi Party called it as a defeat of the communal forces. They said people had rejected the Narendra Modi Government and BJP's "politics of polarisation".
The BJP, which is hoping to do well in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, conceded that the bypoll results were not up to expectations and said that people had voted on local issues.
The only solace for BJP on an otherwise dismal day was its entry in West Bengal Assembly.
