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THE results of the elections to the six parliamentary seats that were postponed due to various reasons, have not only come as a shock to the BJP, but also confirmed the fact that the BJP-led alliance's success has more to do with `electoral engineering' than with an increase in its popular support.

Of these six seats, four were in Bihar where the NDA recently won 40 out of the 50 seats. The BJP and the JD(U) combine had won all these four seats for which elections were postponed, in the 1998 elections. This time round, the BJP lost all its three sitting seats and the margins of defeat were emphatic. The JD(U) retained the Khagaria seat virtually by default. It won with a margin of 32,000 votes over the RJD candidate, while the CPI contested and polled 72,000 votes. Clearly, the division in the Left and secular camp helped the JD(U) to retain its seat.

The BJP failed to make any inroads in Dhubri (Assam) or in Outer Manipur.

After the Vajpayee-led government assumed office at Delhi, it was widely believed that this would decisively work in favour of the NDA candidates in these elections. This has been the pattern so far in the past. Yet, barely three weeks after assuming officer, the decisive defeat of the BJP in its sitting seats is a pointer to the fact that if the Left democratic and secular forces come together, then the communal offensive can not only be checked, but can also be defeated. Clearly, it is by striking alliances with major regional parties that the BJP has managed to come back to power in a coalition under its leadership. It is important to note that the BJP's strength continues to remain 182, exactly the same as it was in the 1998 elections.

In the coming days, given the rapidity with which this Vajpayee-led government is pursuing anti-people policies, the popular discontent is bound to grow. The Left democratic and secular forces must come together in opposing the anti-people policies of this government. The CPI(M) and the Left will have to take the lead in opposing the retrograde economic policies that seriously jeopardise our country's economic sovereignty, while at the same time impose greater hardships among the common people.