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Election News Live Updates: With the voting over and the exit polls out, all eyes are now on the results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held on the 8th. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks confident of its victory in Gujarat, with both the Congress and the saffron party claiming that they will get more than 40 seats out of the total 68.
Exit polls have predicted a big majority for the BJP in Gujarat and a blistering heat in Himachal Pradesh, where most pollsters have given the ruling party an edge over the Congress.
Gujarat—which went to polls in two phases on December 1 and 5—recorded 64.33 percent polling, a drop of over 4 percent from the turnout recorded in the 2017 elections.
According to the latest data shared by the Election Commission on Tuesday, out of total 4.91 crore registered voters, around 3.16 crore voters exercised their franchise on December 1 and 5.
A total of 1,621 candidates were in the fray in the elections for 182 seats in Gujarat, where the BJP is seeking to contest for a seventh consecutive term while the Congress is looking to improve its tally. The fledgling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is trying to make a debut in the state where bipolar contests are the hallmark of elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, Isudan Gadhvi (AAP’s CM candidate), Parshottam Solanki, former BJP ministers, Kunvarji Bavaliya, Kantilal Amritiya, who are known as Morbi “Nayak”, Rivaba Jadeja (BJP), and Paresh Dhanani (Congress) were among the major contestants.
The counting of votes in both the states will take place on December 8. Elections to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly were held on 12 November, while Gujarat went to polls in two phases on 1 and 5 December.
All exit polls predicted a massive mandate for the BJP in the range of 117-151 seats in the 182-member assembly in Gujarat, while the Congress was predicted to get seats in the range of 16-51. The Aam Aadmi Party was projected to gain anything between two and 13 seats. The majority mark in Gujarat is 92.
In Himachal Pradesh, exit polls predicted 24-41 seats for the BJP and 20-40 for the Congress. The majority mark is 35 seats.
The Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party unit is upbeat and confident about forming the next government in the state as all exit polls are predicting a massive mandate for the saffron outfit. Gujarat BJP’s chief spokesperson Yamal Vyas claimed that the new poll candidate Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would not be able to win a single seat in the 182-member state assembly.
Vyas said, ‘We were sure from the beginning that the people of Gujarat are with us and the BJP will register a landslide victory.’ “People of Gujarat love our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the work he has done for Gujarat and India. The exit poll figures reflect that love for our PM. Our workers on the ground also contributed to ensure that we win,” he said.
Vyas said the BJP was never worried about AAP’s entry in Gujarat and did not think the game could go in favor of Kejriwal for his promises like free electricity.
In Himachal Pradesh, BJP state president Suresh Kashyap said that the huge turnout by women voters and a total turnout of 76.61 per cent in the assembly elections indicated that the saffron party would again form the government in the state.
In a press release issued here, he claimed that the election results would be more favorable than predicted by the exit polls and the BJP would win more than 40 seats.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Naresh Chouhan also claimed that the grand old party would get majority in the assembly and the results would be more favorable for it than exit polls.
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