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The celebratory drums and firecrackers broke out in Gujarat as the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) set a new record of winning maximum seats in the 182-seat State Assembly.
As per the Election Commission data upto 11.30 am showed trends for all 182 seats, where BJP was leading on 149 seats, matching the 1985 record of the Congress.
Gujarat MoS Home Harsh Sanghvi tweeted, “How’s the JOSH, Gujarat?” as the trends showed an unprecedented victory for the party.
The opposition Congress is clearly decimated in the trends, leading only on 20 seats.
In 2017 polls, Congress had secured 77 seats, and limited BJP’s juggernaut one short of 100 seats at 99. However, the party had faced series of defections and heartburn among workers due to a variety of issues within the party.
Vote share
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is seen making its debut in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The trends showed AAP leading on eight seats with a vote share of 13 per cent.
BJP’s vote share, on the other hand, has surged past 50 per cent to a record 53.5 per cent.
Congress, however, stood second in the voteshare at 26.6 per cent thanks to its committed voters.
Among the prominent contenders Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was leading on his Ghatlodia constituency with over 60,000 votes ahead of Congress candidate Amee Yajnik, a Rajya Sabha member.
Exit polls
The exit polls had shown BJP sweeping Gujarat polls with seat projections in the range of 117-148 across the polls, while the Congress is seen decimated in the State, where it has stayed out of power for past 27 years.
In Himachal Pradesh, however, BJP is seen struggling for power as Congress was leading on 37 seats out of 68. The BJP was close second leading on 27. The voteshare was nearly the same for the two parties at 43.2 per cent and 43.4 per cent respectively.
The exit polls had predicted a close contest between the Congress and BJP but gave the saffron party and edge above the grand old party. Himachal Pradesh has a tradition of voting out the incumbent government.
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