Haryana Assembly elections: A good report card for the BJP

Voters were satisfied with the performance of the incumbent government and rated it better than the previous Congress government

Since 2014, Haryana has been ruled by the BJP. As the BJP is also in power at the Centre, the Haryana government has been able to function without any interference from the Union government. It has had an assured flow of fund for running welfare schemes and developmental projects for improving educational and health infrastructure and for creating new job opportunities, especially for the educated youth.

Assessing development

When asked which government — the previous Congress government or the incumbent BJP government — had ensured more development, voters were more inclined to give credit to the BJP regime. This implies that the incumbent BJP government enjoyed an edge over the previous Congress government in this regard (Table 1). This is also reflected in the fact that nearly half the voters expressed their satisfaction with the incumbent BJP government in Haryana. Of them, one in every three voters was highly satisfied with the performance of the State government (Table 2).

Where did the incumbent government perform relatively well and where did it fall short? For a majority of the respondents (60%), the supply of electricity improved over the past five years. Over half the voters also reported that road conditions had improved under the incumbent government (Table 3).

However, only four out of 10 respondents said the quality of healthcare in government-run hospitals had improved. A similar proportion of respondents felt that the quality of education in government schools had improved. In other words, for a majority of the respondents, the situation in these two critical sub sectors of social infrastructure either remained the same or worsened. Only one in three respondents (31%) believed that irrigation facilities had improved over the past five years. Worse, nearly two in five respondents (39%) held the view that recruitment for government jobs had not been taking place regularly.

CSDS-Lokniti survey

• How the BJP snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Haryana elections

• Haryana Assembly elections: Party, the most critical factor in voting

• From protests to polls: farmers backed the Congress in Haryana

• BJP bags urban support, Congress holds a slight edge among rural voters

• Jats versus others: the caste factor at play in Haryana

It appears that in overall terms, voters were satisfied with the performance of the incumbent government and rated it better than the previous Congress government.

However, while voters acknowledged improvements under the BJP government on various infrastructural parameters, there is still room for improvement in the areas of health, education, agriculture and employment, which the BJP government needs to address in its new term in office.

Sanjeer Alam is Associate Professor, CSDS

Published - October 10, 2024 03:10 am IST