Would the BJP’s calculations work? Is the BJP right in looking at 272+ as the number of Lok Sabha seats they can achieve on their own in 2014? Overconfidence killed the BJP’s Delhi dreams once, would the same overconfidence and overambitious target lead to the BJP staying out of power once again?
The BJP needs to look realistically at the current situation and rethink what number they would like to be seen as chasing. They must also look at whether they need to chase any number or not. This is how things look to me, today. The figure of 272+ looks extremely unlikely when there are going to be at least 200 seats which would have more than 4 winnable candidates fighting it out. Every state has at least one significant other, a few states have more than two significant others. In at least 14 states and UTs the BJP is likely to draw a blank and this spoils more than what they will gain from other pro-Modi states.
Subdivision | Type | Number of Constituencies | UPA | NDA | Others |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | Union Territory | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Andhra Pradesh | State | 42 | 16 | 18 | 8 |
Arunachal Pradesh | State | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Assam | State | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 |
Bihar | State | 40 | 12 | 8 | 20 |
Chandigarh | Union Territory | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Chhattisgarh | State | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli | Union Territory | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Daman and Diu | Union Territory | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Delhi | State | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Goa | State | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Gujarat | State | 26 | 6 | 15 | 5 |
Haryana | State | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Himachal Pradesh | State | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Jammu and Kashmir | State | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Jharkhand | State | 14 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
Karnataka | State | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 |
Kerala | State | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 |
Lakshadweep | Union Territory | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Madhya Pradesh | State | 29 | 9 | 15 | 5 |
Maharashtra | State | 48 | 14 | 28 | 6 |
Manipur | State | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Meghalaya | State | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Mizoram | State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Nagaland | State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Odisha | State | 21 | 7 | 3 | 11 |
Puducherry | Union Territory | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Punjab | State | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 |
Rajasthan | State | 25 | 5 | 15 | 5 |
Sikkim | State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Tamil Nadu | State | 39 | 12 | 15 | 12 |
Tripura | State | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Uttarakhand | State | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Uttar Pradesh | State | 80 | 10 | 20 | 50 |
West Bengal | State | 42 | 6 | 36 | |
543 | 166 | 188 | 189 |