Numbers speak | Odisha, Andhra Pradesh show how regional bodies can overtake national parties in ‘polling booths’ in simultaneous elections | Parami News

The idea of simultaneous voting has been floated several times but there has been no consensus reached yet on its implementation. At least four times in the past Odisha (formerly Orissa) has held simultaneous elections for both Lok Sabha and Assembly. This year, it will happen again for fifth time.

Since 2004, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), a regional party in Odisha, has always been on top during both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls of the state where Congress and BJP have very little chances.

During the 2004 election, BJD won 11 out of 21 seats in the state Lok Sabha while BJP came second with 7 seats. In 2009, BJD got 14 and Congress took only six which made it second. This year (2014), practically all seats were occupied by BJD that bagged twenty while one was left for BJP. Naveen Patnaik’s party won twelve seats in 2019; Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was listed as runner up with eight.

Patnaik laid its foundation stone in 1997 and had since then become its guiding light. The number of seats won by BJD in the assembly elections held between 2004-19 varied from sixty-one to one hundred seventeen.

The party was friendly towards RSS in 2004 but shortly before general elections of 2009 they split. The four phases will begin on May13 for Lok Sabha along with Assembly elections with three major parties being Bharatiya Janata Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress respectively this time across the state

Contrary to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh has various regional parties. It does not allow much space for national parties but prefers local leaders in assembly and Lok Sabha elections held concurrently. The party left with the 2009 polls.

In the year 2019 Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party fared very badly as they had candidates who did not win a single seat thus losing their deposits. A total of 173 BJP candidates and 174 Congress leaders are contesting for the posts. Both parties got a mere 2% of the vote share. In Andhra Pradesh this year, all national parties combined polled around 2.73% votes cast in Assembly Elections 2019.Pertaining to Lok Sabh, neither major political party fairs any better than other one because none of them have even a single representative in it.

These were the first elections after Telangana was separated from Andhra Pradesh in June 2014 when changed this by issuing a gazette notification on June 2, 2014 to formally separate Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. The states’ own government elections too place two months later, that is April- May in the year of partition.That’s how both countries end up having similar elections done at once.

Presently, Andhra Pradesh has twenty five seats in Parliament’s Lower House called Lok Sabha and another one hundred and seventy five seats for its State Assembly.But according to results from election conducted during year twenty fourteen.The same applies to other lower house (Lok Sabha) where there are presently no representatives from these parties.

The BJP itself performed so poorly across AP that between those years it managed only thirteen MLA seats and three MP seats. The Congress formed governments at the Center in 2004 and 2009; it was also became largest party both at Lok Sabha as well as state assemblies during those years; however subsequent changes happened since then.Isn’t it thus a whole revolution of the state’s electoral behavior?

In 2014 and 2019, BJP and Congress party candidates won four seats in the Lok Sabha out of total eleven parliamentary constituencies.

The political landscape of the state changed with the formation of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) in 2011. In 2019, it won 22 of the state’s 25 Lok Sabha seats and 151 of the State Assembly’s 175 MLA seats.