BJP to 'Introspect' After Bankipur, Datia Setbacks; Nitin Nabin Hails Gujarat Win

The Bharatiya Janata Party signalled that it will review its electoral strategy after suffering setbacks in the Bankipur and Datia Assembly bypolls, with party president Nitin Nabin promising a "thorough introspection" while welcoming the BJP's lone victory in Gujarat's Manjalpur.

In a post on X, Nabin accepted the verdict of the three by-elections, thanked voters in Gujarat for reposing faith in the BJP, and congratulated party workers for retaining the Manjalpur seat.

However, he acknowledged that the party had fallen short in Bihar's Bankipur and Madhya Pradesh's Datia.

"In Bankipur and Datia, we did not receive the expected mandate. We will conduct a thorough introspection of the election results in both these areas with complete seriousness, and with renewed energy and determination, continue to work among the people to strengthen their trust," Nabin said.

The bypoll results delivered a mixed verdict for the BJP.

The party suffered its biggest setback in Bankipur, where Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor registered the first electoral victory of his political career by defeating the BJP in a constituency the party had held continuously since 1995. The seat had been vacated after Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha.

In Datia, the Congress retained the seat, defeating the BJP by more than 6,000 votes.

The BJP's only success came in Manjalpur in Gujarat's Vadodara district, where Satish Patel retained the constituency for the party by defeating the Congress candidate by 30,630 votes. However, the victory margin was significantly lower than the BJP's more than one lakh-vote landslide in the 2022 Assembly election.

The bypolls were closely watched as the first electoral test in these constituencies following recent political developments, with the Bankipur result drawing particular attention after Prashant Kishor's breakthrough victory in one of the BJP's longest-held urban bastions.

(With inputs from ANI)