New Delhi:
Counting of votes for a new assembly in Gujarat is underway, with early trends pointing to a sweeping victory for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has not lost an election in the state since 1995.
The results of the two-phase elections, held earlier this month, will be watched more for the performance of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that seem to be locked in a battle to grab the status of the main opposition party in the state.
While the Congress was not expected to replicate its creditable performance of the last Assembly elections in 2017, a good showing by AAP would have helped its leader Arvind Kejriwal cement his place as a key challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in parliamentary elections due in 2024.
The Modi government is struggling with rising inflation, slowing growth and joblessness, but economic troubles are unlikely to dent BJP’s popularity in Gujarat that has been a bastion of the party for decades and where Modi was chief minister from 2001 to 2014.
Gujarat has 182 Assembly seats and the majority mark is 92. Exit polls have predicted that the BJP will comfortably win a seventh straight term — an outcome that will equal the Left Front’s feat in West Bengal.
Early trends show BJP leading in 149 seats in Gujarat, as per ECI Congress leading in 20 seats, and Aam Aadmi Party in Nine Assembly Constituencies.
With good margins, the BJP is likely to retain 12 out of 16 seats in Ahmedabad city, while close contest in four seats held by the Congress. CM Bhupendra Patel leading by 1 lakh votes.
BJP’s Hardik Patel leads in Viramgam, Congress’s Jignesh Mevani leads in Vadgam while the saffron party’s Alpesh Thakor trails in Gandhinagar.
AAP CM candidate Isudan Gadhvi leading from Khambhalia constituency with a total of 18,998 votes so far, counting continues.
It seems the BJP will break the record set by former Congress CM Madhavsinh Solanki, who won the 1985 elections with a whopping 149 seats in the house.
Neck to neck situation in Himachal Pradesh:
Whereas Neck to neck situation in Himachal Pradesh. Congress and BJP both are leading on 33-33 seats. Others are leading on 02
seats. According to Election specialists, Others can play key role in forming new government in Himachal Pradesh.
