Campaign 2019 Indian general election PM Candidate Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India Affiliation Bharatiya Janata Party Status Prime Ministerial candidate Key people Narendra Modi (Prime Ministerial Candidate)Amit Shah (Party President) Website www.bjp.org

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of India's two largest national political parties and was the ruling party at the time of the 2019 general election, having held power since the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014. It was seeking re-election in the 2019 parliamentary election as the leading party of the National Democratic Alliance, with Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate and party president Amit Shah as the campaign chief.

Background

The campaign followed the party's successful 2014 general election campaign, in which the BJP won 282 seats — a clear majority in the 543-seat Lok Sabha.

On 26 December 2018, Party President Amit Shah announced the leadership teams for the BJP's campaign in seventeen states."Amit Shah Announces Team To Steer BJP's 2019 Election Campaign In 17 States". HuffPost India. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2020.

The BJP released its manifesto, titled Sankalp Patra, on 8 April 2019."PM Modi, Amit Shah Launch BJP Manifesto Sankalp Patra". NDTV.com. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019."BJP Manifesto 2019". Retrieved 8 April 2019.

Results

State Total Seats Seats Won Seat Change Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) 1 0 1 Andhra Pradesh 25 0 2 Arunachal Pradesh 2 2 1 Assam 14 9 2 Bihar 40 17 5 Chandigarh (UT) 1 1 Chhattisgarh 11 9 1 Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) 1 0 1 Daman & Diu (UT) 1 1 Goa 2 1 1 Gujarat 26 26 Haryana 10 10 3 Himachal Pradesh 4 4 Jammu & Kashmir 6 3 Jharkhand 14 11 1 Karnataka 28 25 8 Kerala 20 0 Lakshadweep (UT) 1 0 Madhya Pradesh 29 28 1 Maharashtra 48 23 Manipur 2 1 1 Meghalaya 2 0 Mizoram 1 0 Nagaland 1 0 NCT of Delhi 7 7 Odisha 21 8 8 Puducherry (UT) 1 0 Punjab 13 2 Rajasthan 25 24 Sikkim 1 0 Tamil Nadu 39 0 1 Telangana 17 4 3 Tripura 2 2 2 Uttar Pradesh 80 62 9 Uttarakhand 5 5 West Bengal 42 18 16 Total 543 303 21

Main Bhi Chowkidar

Modi responded to Rahul Gandhi's Chowkidar Chor Hai jibe by launching a campaign with the slogan "Main bhi chowkidar" (Hindi: मैं भी चोकीदार।, transl. "I too am a watchman") for his supporters, implying that everyone is a fighter against corruption and social evils."Narendra Modi urges supporters to take 'main bhi chowkidar' pledge". The Telegraph. India. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019. Modi also changed his official Twitter account name from 'Narendra Modi' to 'Chowkidar Narendra Modi'."'Chowkidar Narendra Modi': PM changes Twitter handle name to counter Rahul Gandhi's chor jibe". The Economic Times. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

In a coordinated campaign, ministers, party president Amit Shah and other BJP leaders such as Piyush Goyal changed their Twitter profile names by adding a prefix "Chowkidar"."मोदी 'चौकीदार' तो 'चौकीदार का मालिक' कौन". 19 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019. Many supporters of BJP also changed their names accordingly."In A New Gimmick, PM Changes Twitter Profile Name To 'Chowkidar Narendra Modi'". 17 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019. Modi addressed a large group of watchmen on audio link as part of the campaign.

Leadership

BJP's president during the election campaign was Amit Shah.

Alliance

The BJP contested the 2019 election as the leading party of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition that included parties such as the Janata Dal (United), Lok Jan Shakti Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, and Shiv Sena, among others.

Issues

Ram temple

The BJP supports the building of a Ram temple on the disputed land in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The BJP campaigned prominently on the Ram temple issue during the election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath both advocated for the construction of the Ram temple, seeking to consolidate the Hindu vote."The BJP has fallen back on the Ram temple in its bid for electoral victory". The Telegraph. India. Retrieved 22 March 2019."BJP-RSS plays temple card to swing general elections its way". The Shillong Times. 2 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.Shukla, Nelanshu (18 January 2019). "No Ram temple means no vote for BJP, warn sadhus". India Today. Retrieved 22 March 2019.

Manifesto

The BJP constituted the manifesto committee on 6 January 2019, to be chaired by Rajnath Singh. Fifteen sub-committees were planned to be formed under the main committee to draft the manifesto. Other key members of the committee were Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Piyush Goyal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Sushil Modi, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Meenakshi Lekhi."BJP manifesto panel decides to form 15 sub-committees for 2019 polls". India Today. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019. The inputs for the manifesto were gathered through crowd-sourcing, wherein around 7,500 suggestion boxes were placed in 4,000 assembly constituencies and transported in 300 buses or raths."BJP crowdsources its manifesto, turns it into referendum on Prime Minister". The Times of India. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.

Jammu and Kashmir

In April 2019, the BJP announced that, if re-elected, it would revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special constitutional status under Article 370, which granted the state significant legislative autonomy, including restrictions on non-residents acquiring property there."BJP releases manifesto for upcoming elections". Al Jazeera."Ahead of Indian Election Modi's party vows to strip Kashmir of Special rights". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019."PM makes Kashmir as election issue". TRT World.

Parliamentary candidates

References

External links "BJP's Manifesto for 2019 General Elections" (PDF). The Times of India. Retrieved 28 September 2021.