On March 10, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won in four out of five states in the recently concluded assembly elections across Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The Samajwadi Party gained a crucial role as principal opposition party in Uttar Pradesh and Aam Aadmi Party won a thumping majority in Punjab. The Congress party lost sorely and was left faceless across all the States leaving room for endless discussions on the party’s relevance in the national politics. Despite anti-incumbency, the BJP won and how! So what were some of the factors that led to their win in these four states and what does AAP’s win in Punjab mean? How did the women vote in these states? Why did BSP fail to garner any support in Uttar Pradesh?

Suno India Editor-In-Chief, Padma Priya, asked these questions and more to Ajoy Ashirwad, Political Affairs Editor, The Wire who writes extensively on Indian politics. In this deeply insightful conversation he spoke about BJP’s absolute understanding of electoral politics while standing out for its ideological agenda and what the opposition parties need to do better to fight them.