BJP's defeat in bypolls took place due to low voter turnout: Prakash Javadekar

Kolkata: Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday attributed the BJP’s bypoll defeat in two of the three Lok Sabha seats it had to the difference in the voter turnout as compared to general elections and said Opposition unity was not a threat to the saffron party. He said the BJP was a “thinking party” and that it would analyse the reasons for the bypoll defeat and take necessary actions. [caption id=“attachment_4347937” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP leader Prakash Javadekar. Reuters[/caption] “Out of three (Lok Sabha seats which were with the BJP), we lost two. There’s a difference between general elections and bypolls. In general elections, the voting percentage in all the three seats was more than 70 percent. Now, it was 50 percent. So the difference in the voting percentage produced a different result,” Javadekar told reporters at the Press Club in Kolkata. “We are a thinking party. We are not dynasts. We have already started analysing in detail, up to the booth level and we will take necessary action,” he said. Though the BJP managed to retain the Palghar parliamentary seat in Maharashtra, they lost Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and Kairana in Uttar Pradesh. Hailing the BJP’s showing in elections in 14 other states in the last four years, the central minister said, “Winning elections in 14 states is an achievement. It’s okay if we have lost two by-elections. We will analyse.” On Opposition unity posing a threat to the BJP, he said: “Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal came together in Uttar Pradesh. It happens often in politics. It is not a threat to the BJP.” “What is the basis of their alliance…‘Modi hatao’ cannot be an agenda because he is working for the country and the poor. People are asking why should he be removed…Because we cannot fight Modi single-handedly, we are coming together,” he said on rival parties banding together to take on the BJP. “We were ruling 6 states when we came to power in 2014. Now we are at the helm of 20 states,” he said, highlighting the BJP’s incessant electoral successes in various states since the last Lok Sabha elections. About the recent panchayat elections in West Bengal, Javadekar said the State Election Commission (SEC) had become “Mamata Election Commission”. He alleged the TMC government adopted four-pronged strategy to “win or rig” the elections. “In the local body elections, they did not allow opposition candidates to file nominations, they didn’t allow anybody to campaign, did not let people vote and officers to count ballots at many places,” he alleged.