Sorry Narendra Modi critics: BJP's vote share far higher than the official figure of 31%

New Delhi: Riding on 'Modi wave', the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 282 seats on its own but its vote share stood at only 31 percent. While some say that the vote share of BJP allies (the NDA got 38.2% votes overall), who also fought the polls under Modi's leadership, have not been included in the figure, others have said that no party usually crosses a 40 percent vote share in the multi-party systems. It happens only in two-party races that a party gets over 50 percent votes. Quoting Raju Limbachiya, a Modi supporter, R Jagannathan of Firstpost writes the 31 percent relates to BJP votes in the whole country, when it actually fought only 428 seats. If we take the BJP’s vote share in the seats it contested, the party’s figure is closer to 40 percent on an average. According to the Election Commission website, Modi got more than 50 percent of the vote in six states (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Goa), 50 percent (along with allies) in Maharashtra, more than 40 percent in five states (Karnataka, Chhattisgrah, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand) and over (or near) 30 percent in four states (Bihar, Haryana, Assam and even in Jammu & Kashmir). It may surprise you that the BJP emerged as the biggest party even in J&K in terms of vote share. Here, it got a vote percentage of 32.4 percent. Higher polling, higher vote share Jagannathan explains that in high polling constituencies, where more than 10 lakh votes were polled, the BJP won 153 seats of the 242 seats (see table). In medium polling seats (total votes of 5-10 lakh votes), the BJP won 121 of 172 seats contested.

In other words, the BJP won a larger share in a larger voter base. So, it is clear in the seats it contested, the saffron party polled around 40 percent of the vote. The 31 percent final number for the BJP seems relatively low, but it is higher than any other party’s achievement in 30 years because of the 115 seats it did not contest. "It is unlikely that any party could have got this kind of mandate to rule. The mandate is for Modi and the BJP, and less for its allies," he says.