At a time when the BJP is grappling with a host of internal problems, not the least of which is the struggle to find a new party president, Tuesday’s results have come as yet another blow. The party’s sinking fortunes were perhaps nowhere more visible than in Lucknow (West), a seat that was part of the parliamentary constituency of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and had been represented by the BJP six times in a row.

The party lost not only here but also in the other 11 Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat that went to polls on November 7, drawing a blank in a state that was once considered a saffron stronghold.

In other states as well, its performance was no better, with the party losing in the sole seat that saw a bypoll in Chhattisgarh, and splitting the two seats each in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh with the Congress.

Lucknow (West) was no ordinary loss. Having represented the seat six times, Lalji Tandon — a confidant of Vajpayee — had this time contested the Lok Sabha seat following the former prime minister’s retirement from active politics. With the Lucknow (West) seat now empty, Tandon had desperately lobbied for a ticket from here for his son Gopaljee.

With the BJP also coming under attack for promoting dynastic politics, the proposal to field Gopaljee led to heated discussions in the party’s Central Election Committee, which spent an unusual two hours to finalise the candidate for the seat. Eventually, Gopaljee was refused party nomination and the BJP instead fielded Amit Puri — who had once contested as a rebel candidate from the seat — to set an example. There were two distinct streams of thought on the issue among the BJP’s second-rung leaders.

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