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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) posted a record-breaking tally of 156 out of the 182 seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections, winning a seventh consecutive term in the state. However, it suffered a defeat in Himachal Pradesh, though it was behind the Congress by only about 1 per cent in the vote share, according to the election results announced on Thursday.
The Congress posted its worst tally in Gujarat, notching up just 17 seats with a vote share of around 27 per cent, down from 41.4 per cent in 2017.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won five seats in Gujarat but could not open its account in Himachal Pradesh, with its Gujarat chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi losing his own seat. However, thanks to its vote share of 12.9 per cent, it gained national party status.
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One criterion for being recognised as a national party is that it must have at least six per cent vote share and two MLAs or one MP in four or more states.
In Himachal Pradesh, the final seat tally stood at 40 for the Congress, a gain of 19 seats from the previous election, and 25 for the BJP. However, the contest was closer in terms of vote share, with the Congress getting 44 per cent of the votes and BJP 43 per cent.
Addressing party workers in the BJP’s Delhi headquarters after the victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Gujarat’s love for BJP despite it being in power for 25 years is unprecedented, they have broken all records, written history.” He added that support for the party showed people’s anger against dynasty rule and corruption. Modi said he was thankful to voters in Himachal Pradesh, where his party’s vote share was less than 1 per cent below that of the winning party. “The Country understands the harms of shortcut politics; if a country is prosperous, everyone’s prosperity is guaranteed,” he said.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge congratulated the people of Himachal Pradesh and party workers for the electoral success. “I also thank all the leaders and in-charge secretaries who worked hard for the success of the party,” Kharge told reporters.
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He said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who campaigned in Himachal Pradesh, and Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra also contributed to the party’s victory. On the party’s dismal performance in Gujarat, Kharge said victory and defeat were part of democracy. “We accept defeat and will continue our fight and remove our shortcomings without compromising on our ideology,” he said.
In a video message, AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said though his party did not win many seats in Gujarat the votes it got helped it attain national party status.
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“I am thankful to the people of Gujarat for helping us attain the status of national party.
Very few parties enjoy the status and now we are one of them. Ours is only a 10-year-old party,” he said.
Congress workers burst crackers at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi after their party’s win in Himachal Pradesh. Photo: PTI
Schedules
In Gujarat, the BJP will elect its chief minister — it has already announced that it will be the incumbent Bhupendra Patel — on Monday. The Congress has not yet set a date, but Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupendra Baghel and party in-charge Rajiv Shukla have reached Shimla and will sort out the leadership issue.
The Congress had not named a chief ministerial candidate and the contest is likely to be between state unit chief and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s widow Pratibha Singh and campaign committee chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, widely credited with putting together the strategies that ensured that the BJP regained ground it lost in 2017 (when it won 99 seats), said in an apparent reference to the AAP and Congress: “Gujarat has given an unprecedented mandate to Narendra Modi’s BJP, which characterises development and public welfare by rejecting those who do politics of freebies and appeasement.”
In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress’s vow to bring back the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), coupled with the Jairam Thakur-led BJP government’s chequered record in implementing infrastructure projects and the widespread anger over the Agnipath scheme, reflected in the result.
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