Jharkhand BJP chief resigns following party's disappointing performance in Assembly polls

Following BJP's disappointing performance in the Jharkhand Assembly elections, the party's state president Laxman Giluwa submitted his resignation letter on Wednesday. On Monday, the results of the Jharkhand Assembly polls were declared. The opposition alliance comprising Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and Rashtriya Janata Dal secured 47 seats, which is more than the halfway mark in the Jharkhand Assembly with a combined vote share of 35.35%. On the other hand, the incumbent BJP won 25 seats with a vote share of 33.37% in the 81-seat assembly. 

Read: Jharkhand Assembly Polls 2019: Here is how BJP lost the chance to form the government

"Due to the party performance falling below expectations in Vidhan Sabha elections 2019 the party's state president Laxman Giluwa has submitted his resignation to the national president taking responsibility for the defeat," read a letter issued by the state party's head Hemant Das.

Following the anti-incumbency trend in Jharkhand, Raghubar Das became the third chief minister of Jharkhand to lose an assembly election while in office. He comes third only to the father-son duo of Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren. The incumbent chief minister was defeated by former Jharkhand minister Saryu Roy in Jamshedpur (East) seat in assembly polls.

Read: Raghubar Das third Jharkhand CM to lose election while in office

Analyzing BJP's defeat

The breaking up of the 19-year-old alliance with AJSU by the BJP can be seen as one of the main reasons for the party's defeat. In the eventuality that both parties would have contested the polls together, the opposition alliance would have lost 13 seats. In such a scenario, the BJP-led alliance could have secured 40 seats in contrast to the Congress-JMM-RJD tie-up's tally of 34 seats. This could have paved the way for the former to form the government with the support of MLAs from smaller parties.

The other big mistake committed by the party was denying ticket to old stalwart Saryu Rai who eventually went on to fight as an independent candidate from Jamshedpur (East) defeating the CM of the state Raghubar Das. Jamshedpur (East) seat had been a stronghold of Raghubar Das who had been winning from here since 1995 ,however, lost this time. The BJP in this assembly elections had denied tickets to 13 sitting MLAs and preferred to give tickets to more than two dozen people who had joined BJP from other parties.

Read: Offering tickets to turncoat MLAs cost the party in Jharkhand, alleges BJP MP

Read: Raghubar Das third Jharkhand CM to lose election while in office