New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday registered a humongous win in Gujarat, smashing all previous records by winning 156 seats in the 182-member assembly and paving way for its seventh consecutive term.
The Congress and AAP were far behind and could only win 17 and 5 seats respectively. BJP, with its record smashing performance, pushed Congress to its lowest-ever tally in the state. The Congress had in 1985 won 149 seats – which was the earlier record. The new Gujarat government will be sworn in on Monday.
Meanwhile, the AAP claimed it has been recognised as a national party after their performance in the Gujarat elections. The elections were held on December 1 and 5.
After the record win in his home state, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Gujarat and said they blessed the “politics of development.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to thank the people of Gujarat. He tweeted, “To all hardworking @BJP4Gujarat Karyakartas I want to say – each of you is a champion! This historic win would never be possible without the exceptional hard work of our Karyakartas, who are the real strength of our party.”
“Thank you Gujarat. I am overcome with a lot of emotions seeing the phenomenal election results. People blessed the politics of development and at the same time expressed a desire that they want this momentum to continue at a greater pace. I bow to Gujarat’s Jan Shakti,” he tweeted.
After the results were announced party workers could be seen dancing and singing in large numbers at the BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar and Delhi. The BJP overcame anti-incumbency yet again after being in power for 27 years without losing an election since 1995. It had 99 seats in the outgoing House with a 49.1 percent vote share.
Later, addressing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers at the party headquarters in New Delhi, PM Modi thanked the people and the BJP workers for their wholehearted support and said that the vote share was a clear indication of the days to come.
Talking about the Himachal Pradesh general assembly elections, PM Modi said that BJP trailed behind by a just 1 percent vote share, which was something that had been unheard of. PM Modi further said that BJP, despite trailing behind by 1 percent, would remain 100 percent committed to the development of the state.
PM Modi iterated on the BJP gaining the confidence of the people because of its policies, He said, “People voted for the BJP because the BJP can take tough decisions in the interest of the country. The increasing public support of the BJP shows that the country is in anger against family-ism and corruption.”
Talking about the BJP’s humongous victory in the state of Gujarat, PM said, “By giving the biggest mandate in the history of Gujarat to the BJP, the people of Gujarat have created a new history.” He further said that about 1 crore voters of Gujarat had not experienced the misrule during the Congress regime and gave their vote to the BJP only on the basis of the development they saw in the state.
PM Modi said, “The results of Gujarat have proved how strong is the desire of the common man for a developed India. When there is a challenge before the country, the people of the country have faith in the BJP. When there is a crisis in the country, the people of the country have faith in the BJP… Even when the aspirations of the country are at their peak, the people of the country have faith only in the BJP to fulfil them.”
He said, “India’s future will become bright not by increasing Fault Lines, but by demolishing Fault Lines. For the first time since independence, today there is such a government in the country, which is working by understanding the problems of women, their challenges, their needs and aspirations.”
PM Modi said, “I had told the people of Gujarat that this time Narendra’s record should be broken. I promised that Narendra will work hard so that Bhupendra can break Narendra’s record. Gujarat has broken all records by giving the biggest mandate to BJP in the history of Gujarat.”
BJP with 52.5 percent votes broke Congress leader Madhavsinh Solanki’s 1985 record of 149 seats with 55.55 per cent vote share. In 12 districts, it has totally washed out the Congress.
The AAP proved to damage the Congress on a large scale, and also the BJP on a few seats. However, the AIMIM was rejected by Muslim voters. Three BJP rebels were elected, but 16 others were shown the door by the voters.
Samajwadi Party’s Kandhal Jadeja got elected to the assembly from Kutiyana. BTP founder Chhotu Vasava faced defeat after representing the Jhagadia seat for seven terms. He had to contest as an independent candidate, because son Mahesh Vasava did not issue a BTP ticket to him.
In 12 districts including Kutch, Amreli, Junagadh, Surendranagar, Surat, Tapi, and Valsad, the BJP made a clean sweep while 44 Congress candidates and 128 AAP candidates forfeited their deposits.
The BJP won 46 out of 54 seats in Saurashtra and Kutch, 33 out of 35 in south Gujarat, 22 out of 32 in north Gujarat and 55 out of 61 in central Gujarat. Against that, the Congress won 4 in Saurashtra and Kutch, only 1 in south Gujarat, 8 in north Gujarat, and 5 in central Gujarat.
Out of its 48 sitting MLAs, 40 lost the elections and only 8 have got elected. As Congress did not get 10 per cent seats in the Assembly, it might not get the Leader of Opposition’s post.
Though the AAP has polled some 40 lakh votes, its main faces like Isudan Gadhvi, Gopal Italia, Alpesh Kathiria, Dharmesh Malaviya, and Sagar Rabari have lost miserably. The candidates who won are Chitar Vasava (Dadiapada), Bhupatbhai Bhayani (Visavadar), Sudhir Vaghani (Gariyadhar), Hemant Khava (Jamjodhpur) and Umesh Makwana (Botad). The three BJP rebels who have won are Dhavalsinh Zala (Bayad), Dharmendrasinh Vaghela (Vaghodia) and Mavji Desai (Dhanera).