BJP maintained its dominance in 2022 as disjointed Opposition proved no match

New Delhi: Its rivals hoped 2022 would ask some difficult questions of the BJP in a year of many important electoral battles. But as the year comes to an end, it has instead presented the Opposition with more than a few posers while the ruling party raced ahead in the sweepstakes for the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The BJP under its charismatic helmsman in Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking to become the first party in over five decades to win three back-to-back Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress had won a majority in five consecutive elections between 1952-71, first three under Jawaharlal Nehru and two under Indira Gandhi.

As the year 2022 signs off, the BJP' hopes of achieving the feat were boosted.

It further consolidated its sway in strongholds with big victory in Uttar Pradesh, the lynchpin to its 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha triumphs, and a record-breaking win in Gujarat while the Opposition camp was marred by division, a lack of coherent national narrative and the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party.

The Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra under Rahul Gandhi might have added some heft to his ideological counterpunch to take on the BJP and drew constant scrutiny from the ruling party but if this has had any electoral impact, there is no clear sign of it so far.

The only notable reverse the BJP suffered in the year was its loss of power in Himachal Pradesh where its gap with the Congress was less than one per cent of the total votes cast.

However, the fact that its defeat to the Congress in a state that has traditionally voted out the incumbent party was seen a mild surprise only attests to the political dominance it maintained in the year. In the five state assembly polls held through February-March, it retained power in the four states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur while the Aam Aadmi Party swept Punjab, where the BJP has never been a big player, as the internecine factional battles within the ruling Congress helped regional party's surge.

As has been the case since Modi ushered in a rigorous work regime for the party's organisation since 2014, the BJP's formidable 'sangathan' went methodically about its outreach and expansion plans through the year, a strategy which has paid it rich dividends. Modi himself was holding a roadshow in Gujarat a day after the party notched up spectacular wins in Uttar Pradesh and three other states in March and when Gujarat was polling in the last phase on December 5, top BJP leaders from across the country were brainstorming in Delhi over the next round of state polls.

The BJP also scored a point by having the country its first tribal President in Droupadi Murmu while its vice-presidential candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, who comes from the politically significant caste of Jats, had a facile win over his opposition rival.