Four Questions on the BJP’s Win in Bengaluru Answered

What does the BJP’s win in Bengaluru mean for the city’s residents?

People push a bus through a flooded road in Bengaluru, October 24, 2005. (Photo: Reuters)

The BJP has won the Bengaluru elections with 100 seats, but what does its win mean, for the party, for the opposition Congress and for the city’s residents? Here are four such questions, answered.

1. How Big a Win is it for the BJP?

The BJP will be thrilled. The party’s leaders and managers will take heart from the fact that they won a city in a state (Karnataka) that is ruled by the Congress party, and that they won an election they had been tipped to lose by several pollsters.

Mohandas Pai, member of BPAC, a citizens’ collective in the city says:

The results are a mixed bag. The people were unhappy and it is clear that Narendra Modi gives them hope.

However, the party failed to make it to the 103 mark that would have given it a clear majority. And it fell 11 short of the 111 wards it won in 2010.

A ward-by-ward comparison of the results will reveal patterns, but the verdict is clear: the BJP cannot take its popularity in the city and in the state for granted.

2. Is it a Referendum on the State Congress’s Performance?

It’s clearly a setback for the ruling Congress party in Karnataka, and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah convened an emergency meeting soon after the results were declared.

But the government will breathe easy given that assembly elections are due only in 2018. The Chief Minister has already said that if the AAP’s victory in Delhi is not a referendum on the performance of the Narendra Modi government, then the Bengaluru results cannot be seen as reflecting the voter’s anger against the ruling state government.

3. Will the Results Make a Difference to Bangalore?

Probably not. The city will more or less inherit the same set of corporators that they had for the past 5 years. The structural issues remain – the city, with its approximately 10 million residents, cannot be adequately serviced by BBMP, which is notorious for its corruption and inefficiency.

4. So Is There Any Hope for Bangaloreans?

Ironically, the Congress’ defeat in the Bengaluru elections may not affect the state government’s plans to push through the restructuring of BBMP once again. Had it won, it might have had to listen to its corporators, who stand to benefit from the status quo.

Experts believe that the BBMP is in urgent need of restructuring to make it more efficient in its delivery of services. From that perspective, this result may push the process of restructuring forward.