Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Delhi, announced his resignation two days later. Kejriwal said that the Aam Aadmi Party MPs will select a new Chief Minister. The Aam Aadmi Party’s decision to fight the elections with a new Chief Minister comes at a time of political unrest in Delhi. This is not the first time that the Chief Minister has been changed before the elections in any state or Union Territory. To counter the anti-incumbency forces, the BJP has been trying the trick of changing the Chief Minister and fighting the elections without revealing the face of the Chief Minister. How successful has the move to change the Chief Minister before the elections been?
Delhi
The BJP made a move to change the chief minister on the eve of the 1998 Delhi elections. Just before the assembly elections, the party removed Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and appointed Sushma Swaraj as his successor. Sushma was the fifth and first female chief minister of Delhi and served as chief minister for 53 days. The BJP fought the elections under the leadership of Sushma Swaraj but the party lost. In the 1993 elections, the BJP won 49 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly but ended up winning only 15 seats.
Gujarat
Ahead of the 2022 elections in Gujarat, the BJP changed the face of power in the state in 2021. After the BJP won the 2017 elections, Vijay Rupani was appointed as the Chief Minister. The government’s term was to end in 2022 and the elections were to be held this year, but the party changed the chief minister in 2021. The BJP handed over the command of the Gujarat government to Bhupendra Patel. This experiment of the party was also successful. The BJP returned to power under the leadership of Prachanda Vijay and won more than 150 seats in the assembly elections.
Uttarakhand
Just before the Uttarakhand elections, the BJP appointed Pushkar Singh Dhami to replace Tirath Singh Rawat as the Chief Minister. When the BJP won the 2017 elections and came to power in Uttarakhand, it removed Tirath from the post of Chief Minister, who had served as Chief Minister for four months. Before Tirath, Trivendra Singh Rawat was the Chief Minister. The gamble of having Pushkar Singh Dhami as Chief Minister proved to be right, as the BJP won the elections for the second time in a row and formed the government. This was the first time since the formation of Uttarakhand that a political party formed the government for the second time in a row.
Karnataka
Ahead of the 2023 assembly elections in Karnataka, the BJP had changed the chief minister in 2021. The party appointed Basavaraj Bommai as the chief minister in place of CM BS Yediyurappa. The top leadership also fought to retain power in Karnataka, known as the southern gateway of the BJP, but failed. The opposition Congress won the Karnataka elections and the BJP had to lose power in the state. The BJP’s formula of changing the CM failed in Karnataka.
Also read: Answers to 5 big questions Delhiites want to know after Kejriwal announced his resignation?
Tripura
The BJP also successfully tried the leadership change model in Tripura, a stronghold of the Left. The BJP won the 2018 elections and formed the government in this northeastern state for the first time. The BJP government was formed in the state and Biplab Deb was appointed as the chief minister. Ahead of the 2023 elections, the party appointed Manik Saha as the chief minister instead of Biplab. This leadership change move was also successful in Tripura, where the BJP successfully formed the government for the second time in a row.
Also read: After Kejriwal’s resignation, will the ‘new government’ approving this plan prove to be a masterstroke? Understand the complete math
Haryana
The latest attempt to change the chief minister before the elections took place in Haryana, where the BJP removed two-time chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar from office and handed over the reins of government to Naib Saini. These changes took place before the Lok Sabha elections and did not have a positive impact on the general election results. The BJP suffered defeat in five of the 10 seats. Haryana is currently holding assembly elections. The day of the Haryana election results on October 8 will witness the success of this move by the BJP in the state.
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