Abstract
Two important elections held in close succession—the December 2013 Assembly elections and the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections—in the state of Madhya Pradesh emphatically underline the consolidation achieved by the BJP. Overriding anti-incumbency, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state returned to power and rode on the crest of the popularity of the state chief minister and the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to put up a creditable performance in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP was helped by strong anti-incumbency against the UPA, on the one hand, and the organizational ineffectiveness of the Congress party at the state level, on the other. This article attempts an analysis of the factors and forces that contributed to the BJP consolidating its position in the state in the recent years.
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