The BJP is banking on the achievements of PM Modi (File)
Gujarat has 182 seats, the majority mark stands at 92. Himachal Pradesh has 68 seats and 35 seats are needed for a victory.
Updated: December 08, 2022 9:00 am IST
New Delhi: The BJP has started off with leads in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh after counting of votes for the Assembly polls started this morning. In Gujarat, it is off to a flying start and in Himachal, it is surging ahead.
Here are 10 big updates on Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh election results
- As leads keep coming in, the BJP is ahead in 135 seats in Gujarat, the home turf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Congress, which performed well last time, leads in 38 seats.
- The Aam Aadmi Party, which is eyeing a big entry into the Gujarat political landscape with this election, is ahead on six seats. The western state has 182 seats and the majority mark stands at 92.
- In Himachal Pradesh, which has 68 seats, the BJP has taken an early lead in 36 seats and the Congress is ahead on 30.
- The BJP, which informally launched its campaign in Gujarat months ago, upped the glitz quotient as the contest neared. Under the helmsmanship of Amit Shah and the banner of PM Modi, its campaign ran on predictable lines, with rallies by its biggest leaders. The Prime Minister held over 30 rallies after the elections were announced.
- In Himachal Pradesh too, the BJP is banking on the achievements of PM Modi for a smooth transition to a second term, even though the state diligently swings between the BJP and the Congress every five years.
- The message to Himachal Pradesh was of Central development, with PM Modi flagging off a Vande Bharat Express ahead of elections and opening a new AIIMS at Bilaspur. In many party hoardings, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur was missing.
- AAP practically dropped out of the race in Himachal to focus its energies in Gujarat and Delhi. In Gujarat, Mr Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann held multiple rallies — neck and neck with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As a counter to the BJP’s “Phir ek baar Modi Sarkaar” (Another term or Modi government), it has raised the slogan of “parivartan (change).
- Exit polls, which do not always get it right, have predicted that AAP will merely register its presence in Gujarat, barely going beyond a single digit score. But an AAP foothold in Gujarat is expected to bring a change in the binary politics of Gujarat and present the BJP with a more persistent and strategic opponent than the Congress.
- The Grand Old party, focused on its big picture Bharat Jodo Yatra, is seen as putting up a token campaign in Gujarat, where it won 77 seats in 2017, and in Himachal Pradesh, where the trend of the last few decades gives it a bonus point. In Delhi civic polls — which had more voters than in Himachal Pradesh — the Congress won only nine seats.
- Over the last two years, the Congress lost two of its key leaders from Gujarat, Ahmed Patel and Madhavsinh Solanki. For leaders of the Gujarat Congress, Ahmed Patel was the mentor and go-to man. There was no one to pick up the slack, with Rahul Gandhi, who had led from the front in 2017, being busy with the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Source: NDTV-News