In BJP’s slight fall in vote share, Rajasthan saw sharpest dip of 10%, UP close second

Between 2019 and 2024, the BJP’s Lok Sabha seat tally fell from 303 to 240, with most of the losses concentrated in four Hindi heartland states – Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana. With 49 seats dropped here, these four states contributed the most to the BJP’s overall reduction in seats.

However, the party also gained 23 new seats across six states and one Union Territory (UT), having lost a total 86 of the 303 seats it won in 2019 for a net loss of 63 seats.

In contrast, its vote share shrunk only marginally. In 2019, the BJP had secured a vote share of 37.7%. In the 2024 elections, the results of which were declared on Tuesday, the BJP’s vote share fell by 1.2%.

The biggest state in terms of losses for the BJP was Uttar Pradesh, where the party won 62 seats in 2019, and got 29 less this time, falling to 33. The party’s vote share also declined by 8.61% in the state from 2019.

In the other Hindi heartland states where it saw losses, the BJP was down by 10 seats in Rajasthan, five in Bihar and five in Haryana.

The BJP also recorded a decline in seats in Maharashtra (loss of 14 seats), Karnataka (eight seats), West Bengal (six seats), Jharkhand (three seats), Punjab (two seats), and Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Chandigarh (one seat each).

In Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP retained both its Lok Sabha seats despite recording a 10% decline in vote share. The party had a 58.9% vote share in 2019, but that figure came down to 48.87% in 2024.

The party retained all the four seats in Himachal Pradesh, though its vote share declined by 13.27% points. In 2019, the party’s vote share was 69.71%, with that figure coming down to 56.44% in 2024.

The BJP’s vote share declined to almost half in Jammu and Kashmir, where it