New Delhi, Dec 18: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017 results for which were announced on Monday, December 18. The saffron party, which has ruled for 22 years in the state, won 99 seats less than what it had won in 2012 (115) and party president Amit Shah’s projection of 150 seats. On the other hand, the Congress improved its position winning 80 seats thanks to Rahul Gandhi’s intense campaigning.
In terms of percentage, the BJP garnered 49 per cent votes and the Congress settled for 41.4 per cent votes. Interestingly, 1.8 per cent or 5 lakh 51 thousand of voters in Gujarat pressed None of The Above (NOTA) option on the EVMs thus rejecting both the BJP, Congress and other candidates.
Gujarat & Himachal Assembly Elections: Detailed Coverage
The performance of the BJP was much below the party leadership’s expectation but both president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the show as historic. Speaking in New Delhi in the evening, PM Modi, who took it upon himself to lead the BJP’s campaign in his home state, said that it was a victory of ‘vikas’ development. “So many conspiracies were hatched in Gujarat by Congress and misinformation was being spread. People cannot bear if anyone makes fun of ‘vikas’. After 2014, there is a hunger for development. Even if you do not like BJP, do not try to derail the progress being made towards development,” PM Modi said.
Accusing the Congress of indulging in negative politics, Amit Shah said that Gujarat and Himachal results are evidence that the people have rejected dynasty and polarisation and supported PM Modi’s developmental politics.
“This is a victory of development over dynasty and polarisation. The 2/3rd lead in Himachal Pradesh shows that people there want to join PM Narendra Modi in the journey to development. This is a lesson to the parties which indulge in caste-politics and dynasty,” Amit Shah said.
Adding to its victory cheer, the BJP’s top state leadership in Gujarat won their seats, while the Congress saw many of its top state leaders bite the dust.
BJP’s Chief Minister Vijay Rupani retained his Rajkot (West) seat against Congress’ Indranil Rajyaguru — the richest candidate in the fray — by a little over 21,000 votes. Rupani got 52,155 votes, while Rajyaguru got 29,938 votes. Current Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala won from this seat seven times earlier. (Also Read: Alpesh Thakor And Jignesh Mevani Win But What Has The Congress Gained?)
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel trounced his Congress rival Jivabhai Patel by 12,784 votes in his home turf Mehsana, which is the home town of Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel. Nitin Patel was expected to face a stiff challenge here. He secured 68,785 votes in comparison to his Congress rival who got 56,311 votes.
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