Shifting Hindutva geography: assessing the electoral performance of the Bhartiya Janata Party in India's parliamentary elections, 1984–2024, through mapping regional dynamics and vote share pattern

Abstract

This study analyses the political expansion of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), 1984–2024, through the lens of India’s parliamentary history, combining spatial analysis (GIS), electoral data, and qualitative sources. While the BJP maintained stable vote shares nationally, its 2024 losses in northern strongholds and southern gains reveal tensions between majoritarian politics and coalitional pragmatism. This article situates these shifts within critical institutional junctures–such as the 1998–2004 and 2024 coalition eras–mirroring earlier parliamentary transformations (1977 and 1989, for example). Far from signalling decline, the BJP’s 2024 victory underlines the party’s adaptive strategies within parliamentary constraints. By linking electoral geography to institutional evolution, this study contributes to ongoing debates on right-wing parties in representative democracies, challenging assumptions about Hindutva’s limits and offering a framework for analysing party systems at the intersection of ideology and historical institutionalism. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.