New Delhi: The BJP on Monday succeeded in holding on to power in Gujarat for sixth time in a row, but wrested Himachal Pradesh from Congress with a thumping majority.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 99 seats, seven more than the magic figure of 92 in a House of 182, despite increasing its vote share. On the other hand, riding on caste politics afresh, Congress secured 77 seats while its allies got three more. The NCP, which fought alone, got a lone seat and Independents got two.
The BJP thrashed Congress in Himachal, winning 44 of the 68 seats. The Congress won 21 in the hill state where it had previously held 36 seats. Two seats went to Independents and a lone seat was taken by CPI-M.
In his victory speech at BJP Headquarters in Delhi, Modi said the support for the party showed that “the nation is ready for reform agenda as every citizen wants India transformed”.
“I bow to the people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh for their affection and trust in the BJP. I assure them that we will leave no stone unturned in furthering the development journey of these states and serve the people tirelessly.” In a message to his opponents, he said “let bygones be bygones” in a reference to the coming together of leaders heading caste formations to ally with Congress, to build a new Gujarat.
After Modi’s speech, the Central Parliamentary Board of the BJP met at the party headquarters in Delhi and decided to depute Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and General Secretary Saroj Pandey to Gujarat for holding consultations on choosing the new Chief Minister. For Himachal Pradesh, where the chief ministerial face Prem Kumar Dhumal suffered a defeat, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar are being sent to decide on a new leader.
The BJP’s overall vote share in the state went up by over a percentage to 49.1 per cent but the same failed to translate into more seats.
The vote share of the Congress, which joined hands with Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and OBC leader Alpesh Thakore, soared from 33.45 per cent of 2014 to 41.4 per cent.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani brushed aside reports of BJP’s waning support, saying the winner was always the king. “Jo jeeta wo hi Sikander.”
With Himachal in its kitty now, the BJP has 14 states where it has its chief ministers and rules with coalition partners in five others.
Congress is now left with power in just four states — Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Mizoram and union territory of Puducherry.
Among the top winners in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani from Rajkot West, a seat formerly occupied by Modi, by a margin of over 50,000 votes. His deputy and Finance Minister Nitinbhai Patel won by 7,951 votes in Mahesana.
The BJP held on in most seats affected by the Patidar agitation, provoking community leader Hardik Patel to complain about faulty Electronic Voting Machines.
While the BJP dominated over the Congress in South, Central and North Gujarat, the Congress held the upper hand in the Saurashtra/Kutch region. The BJP also proved its sway over urban centres while the Congress seats came mostly from rural regions.
Almost all of the Congress’ prominent state leaders, including Shaktisinh Gohil, Siddharth Patel and Arjun Modhvadia sufferred humiliating defeat. Notably they all were Congress Chief Ministerial contenders.
In Himachal, key winners included outgoing Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Among those who lost in the hill state was BJP’s Chief Ministerial face PK Dhumal and his confidants Ravinder Ravi, Gulab Singh and Randhir Sharma, all outgoing legislators.