As it pulls out all the stops to meet the target of increasing its vote share from 37% to 50% and seats from 303 to 370, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is focusing on breaching new ground and crossing barriers in states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. It is, however, equally focused on retaining the seats it had won in 2019.

There are several states where the BJP’s performance was enviable in the last general elections, such as Karnataka, Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand and Bihar. The cadre in these states now has task of ensuring that the party’s tally in the upcoming polls matches the score from the last election and is not less by even a single digit.

In Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, the party won 105 of the 134 seats in 2019. While it is focusing on winning all 17 seats that it is contesting in Bihar, it also has to ensure its alliance partners in the state – the JDU, the LJP, the HAM and the RLSP – are in sync with its election pitch and do not drag the National Democratic Alliance down. In Jharkhand, where it had won 12 of the 14 seats, the party is fighting a pitched battle against the JMM. The opposition has cornered the BJP for engineering the arrest of former chief minister Hemant Soren on charges of corruption, alleging a bias against the Scheduled Tribe leader.

In UP, the party won 77 of the 80 seats in 2014, but its tally came down to 62 in 2019. The party is now aggressively wooing voters across caste lines to up its tally. Leaders are hopeful that the newly constructed Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be a big draw, in addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.

Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat together have 61 seats, and the BJP won 60 in 2019. The challenge in these three states is to tide over internal friction in state units and keep the vote bank intact. In Gujarat, the bastion, at least two candidates pulled out of the election and there is pressure to replace Parshottam Rupala who is facing severe backlash from the Rajput community for his comments against them.

In Rajasthan, leaders are worried about complacency seeping in. The party recently won the state election, but senior leaders deputed to oversee polls in the state have been cautioning against underestimating the opponent. The party has also parted ways with Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) that had won a solitary seat in 2019 but enjoys clout in Jat dominated seats, including Nagaur.

In Haryana, the party’s ally, the Jananayak Janata Party, walked out of the NDA just ahead of the polls. With a new chief minister in place, and amid challenges posed by the opposition and dismay among party cadre over tickets being given to turncoats, some of whom recently joined the party, the challenge to retain all 10 seats in the state has become tougher.

Of the five states in the south, the party’s presence is limited to Karnataka. The loss it faced in the recent state elections, rebellion by senior leaders and a resurgent Congress have added to the woes of the party workers. BJP had won 25 of the 28 seats in the state, and to ensure its performance does not slip, the party has stitched a pre-poll alliance with former PM HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) to bring in support from the powerful Vokkaliga community. However, there is a catch. Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar has strengthened his hold over the community and emerged as the power centre, putting up stiff competition to the BJP-JDS combine.