BJP debacle:Blames on ill-informed voters

By Our Reporter   

SHILLONG, DEC 19: Meghalaya unit of the BJP has blamed lack of understanding on the benefits of the demonetisation of the Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes by the union government and the delayed rescheduling of the ‘Good Governance Day’ as two important reasons for its dismal performance during the recently concluded district councils elections.

The saffron party which had fielded candidates in all the seven constituencies- six for the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and one for the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC)- lost in all with most of its candidates forfeiting their deposits.

As the bye-polls for the district councils were held post the demonetisation by the Narendra Modi led coalition government at the centre,  a red- faced state BJP is now blaming the electorates for failing to grasp the long-term benefits of the mammoth exercise to root out black money in the country.

The second reasons that the state BJP felt was responsible for the party’s debacle in the bye-polls is the delayed announcement of the union government to reschedule the observance of the ‘Good Governance Day’  from December 25 to December 23.

Just before the bye-polls, the state BJP got a shot in its arms when KHADC’s Congress MDC Neil Antonio War, MDC and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MDC Roghteous Sangma, Independent MDCs Sofiur Rahman and Kurosh Marak joined the saffron party.

Riding high for making inroad into Meghalaya’s district councils-albeit through the backdoor-the BJP was hoping to clinch some seats in the council’s bye-polls. But hopes turned into despair when results of the seven MDCs seats were announced as the party failed to live up to its expectations and instead the party leaders were stunned with the outcome.

The bye-polls results showed the BJP votes polled from the seven constituencies under the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District (JHADC) was only 8,418 of the over 1 lakh electorates.

State BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh refused to accept the party’s setback and instead told this reporters over phone that the recently concluded bye-elections was rather a “trial” for the party to improve its performance in the upcoming 2018 state elections.

Lyngdoh said, “It is not a setback, it is rather a good lesson for the party so that we can work harder and ensure we perform better in the state polls..

Lyngdoh blamed lack of awareness on the benefits of demonetisation exercise and said, “People have not been able to gauge the importance of this exercise. They were misled in believing that standing in long queues is harassment and this would affect them, which is not true.”

Lyngdoh felt that the delayed announcement of the decision to prepone the Good Governance Day in the state to December 23 instead of 25^th  also led to the party’s poor performance in the by-polls.

“Moreover, the ruling Congress and also regional parties have been raising these issues in their election campaigns which misled the people of the state,” Lyngdoh claimed.

Despite the loss, Lyngdoh said the party is proud because it has been able to maintain a corruption-free image by wooing the voters not by money but through an awareness campaign on the party’s manifesto and other government schemes that will benefit the people.

Lyngdoh refused to admit that the bye-polls drubbing will cast a shadow on the party’s performance during the 2018 state assembly elections. He said the results of the bye-elections will have any negative impact on the party performance in 2018 state elections.

Lyngdoh said, “We still have one year before the state go to polls and we assure to work hard to ensure that BJP is serves the people of the state.”