Gujarat and BJP: Why discontent did not spell defeat

It's worth pondering why the sources of discontent that the Congress focused on did not translate into a victory, whatever the increase in share of votes

At the time of writing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears poised to end up with 15 seats fewer than in 2012. Yet, this does not translate, by any reckoning, into an anti-BJP mandate along the lines many had led us to expect. Those who had forecast a Congress victory powered by a groundswell of discontent have certainly been proved wrong.

We heard various reasons for the way the polls were supposedly shaping up against the BJP. The Gujarat model was biased in favour of industry, agrarian distress was pervasive and the BJP would get a taste of farmers’ wrath.