Case Studies of XVI General Elections

There was much that was extraordinary about India's 2014 parliamentary elections. For the first
time in 30 years, a single party achieved a parliamentary majority on its own, confounding the
expectations of most pre-election observers. Not only did a single party win a majority but, for
the first time in India's democratic history, this party was not the Congress Party.Footnote1
Instead, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured its first parliamentary
majority, albeit on a platform which professed to foreground economic development and growth
over religious majoritarianism. The elections saw record levels of voter participation.

What explains the BJP's success?

A clear majority for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha and its spread across most states
in the 2014 general elections marks a departure from the electoral outcomes of almost a quarter
century. The BJP’s success was made possible, among other factors, due to its electoral strategy
of reinventing social engineering in what may be termed as its second transformation. As a
result, it secured significant support among the Other Backward Classes as well as scheduled
caste and scheduled tribe voters to gain a winning edge. Besides this, its promise of development
and the projection of Modi as a strong and decisive leader attracted support among the lower and
middle classes. India's urban constituencies overwhelmingly supported the BJP and its allies in
2014. They won 80% of the 40 most highly urbanised seats (those where at least 75% of voters
live in urban areas) and 56% of the 123 semi-urban seats (where 25% of the population or more
live in cities).

Leadership and Campaign Themes

Narendra Modi towered over the BJP's campaign, and the electoral landscape more generally in
2014. At times, the election contest appeared to be reduced – especially by national television
channels – to a competition between Narendra Modi, the Congress Party's heir apparent Rahul
Gandhi and a new entrant to the electoral scene – leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind
Kejriwal. BJP's campaign in 2014 was unprecedented because, more than any time since Indira
Gandhi, it relied so heavily on the person of its leader. It was also the first time that a prime
ministerial candidate used his record as Chief Minister of a state to bid for national office.
Narendra Modi challenged the collegial traditions of the BJP by using a parallel structure of
support by activists with personal allegiance to him. This had the effect of sidelining party
veterans. He employed new communication strategies to ‘saturate’ the public sphere and reach
voters directly.

Factors that Helped BJP and Narendra Modi Win the Election

FIXING THE ECONOMY: India's once-impressive economic growth, averaging above 8 per
cent over the last decade, slowed to below 5 per cent in the last year, while inflation rocketed
into double digits. The BJP and Narendra Modi maintained a laser focus on the economy
throughout the campaign, hammering the Congress party for stalled development projects while
touting Modi's state of Gujarat as a model of success. In fact, Gujarat's growth has been
mediocre compared with others of India's 28 states. But Modi's message resonated with an
electorate aching for change and upward mobility, and India's corporate leaders backed Modi as
a decisive administrator needed to revive industrial growth.

COMBATING CORRUPTION: Massive corruption scandals involving public funds and

resources battered the Congress-led coalitions. Anti-graft protests inspired a fierce anti-
incumbency wave among voters and inspired the launch of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party
or AAP. In his campaign, Mr Modi has said he will serve as a "chowkidaar" or watchman,
vowing he will expunge corruption from the government and bureaucracy.

YOUTH: India's electorate is particularly young, with half the country's 81 crore voters under 35
years old and eager to secure employment with promise. Mr Modi has promised to create jobs
for them. They are also averse to the political tradition of whipping up communal loyalties to
secure votes from certain socio-economic groups, castes or religions.

TECHNOLOGY: The BJP and Modi ran a high-adrenalin and tech-savvy campaign that
dazzled and engaged voters directly through social media. Modi snapped campaign selfies that
went viral and even appeared as a holograph at campaign events. He has tweeted daily for years.

INFRASTRUCTURE: India's crumbling roads and ports, plus lack of adequate electricity
supply, were high on the list of problems that make business projects hard to get off the ground.
They are also of paramount importance to voters, one-third of whom now live in cities. In
Gujarat, Mr Modi made infrastructure improvements a priority, building thousands of kilometers
of highways and attracting investment to build up the country's largest modern port. He promised
to bring the same focus if elected prime minister.

The BJP, under Modi, appropriated themes such as corruption and caste that are more closely
associated with other parties, as well as building on Modi's experience as Chief Minister of
Gujarat. He also fell back on more traditional Hindu nationalist themes, and relied on the support
of the RSS. It was this combination of new and old, Jaffrelot argues, that distinguished the BJP's
campaign in 2014.