India's BJP, a Big Loser, Faces Leadership Change

A resounding defeat for the Bharatiya Janata Party in India's elections has put a big question mark on the future of a party that already has spent five years in opposition: Who's going to take the reins?


The BJP's figurehead and prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani, is 81 years old, and BJP officials say he will step down soon now that the right-wing party has been defeated soundly by the ruling Congress party. But Mr. Advani has not named a successor for his post, leaving the future in doubt for the country's largest opposition group.

"We didn't expect such results," said Sushma Swaraj, a senior BJP leader in a television interview. The "BJP concedes defeat."

It's a disappointing place to be for a party that had several factors pointing its way in these elections -- an ailing economy, last year's Mumbai terror attacks and India's long history of kicking incumbents out of power. But with the BJP and its allies projected to win only about 160 seats compared to around 260 for Congress and its allies, the party has hit a low point, leaving Mr. Advani's successor with the unenviable task of trying to resurrect it, party officials say.