The 12 largest states account for more than 80 per cent of Lok Sabha seats and matter most in national elections—UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh (united), Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Orissa and Kerala. The BJP’s 2014 victory was entirely on the back of six of them. It won 80 per cent of its Lok Sabha seats from the six ‘Hindi’ states—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, winning 90 per cent of all seats. In the other six states, the BJP won only 20 per cent of all seats. So it was imperative for the BJP to hedge its dependence on the ‘Hindi’ states for the 2019 election and expand its presence into other large states. In that context, the BJP should be disappointed with its 2016 electoral performance. It has failed to widen its footprint in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which together account for 100 Lok Sabha seats.