Comments
The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party is heading for a landslide victory in Gujarat inching closer to set a new record of most seats.
As per the Election Commission data upto 10.30 am showed trends for 177 out of 182 seats, that showed BJP leading on 149 seats, a record of Congress government under Madhavsinh Solanki undefeated since 1985.
The opposition Congress is clearly decimated in the trends leading only on 19 seats.
In 2017 polls, Congress had secured 77 seats, and limited BJP’s jaggaurnaut 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.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the other hand is seen making its debut in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The early 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 53.6 per cent - a record in itself. Congress, however, maintained second slot in the vote share with 26.7 per cent vote share from the counting of votes happened till 10.30 am.
Among the prominent contenders Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel was leading on his Ghatlodia constituency with over 30,000 votes ahead of Congress candidate Amee Yajnik, who is also a Rajya Sabha member.
Congress’ former state unit chief Amit Chavda was trailing from Anklav constituency in Central Gujarat to BJP’s Gulabsinh Padhiar.
After trailing behind AAP’s Amarsinh Thakor, BJP’s young patidar leader Hardik Patel was leading from Viramgam seat. Dalit leader and sitting Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani was trailing behind BJP’s Manibhai Vaghela on Vadgam seat.
In Gandhinagar-South, BJP’s Alpesh Thakor was leading with over 50 per cent vote share.
AAP’s Chief Ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi too was leading on Khambhalia seat.
Notably, the exit polls had showed 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, the trends for all 68 seats showed BJP and Congress neck-to-neck with both leading on 32 seats each, while Independents seen leading on four.
The saffron party has so far secured vote share of 43.6 per cent, while Congress is a tad lower at 42.8 per cent.
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.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.