Gujarat election results: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government on Thursday registered a thumping majority by winning almost 149 seats, for the eighth term where it has not lost an election since 1995. After the first four hours of counting of votes in the Assembly elections in the BJP-ruled states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, early trends showed that the saffron party with a vote share of nearly 54 per cent was ahead in 152 out of 182 seats in the western state and could surpass its previous best showing of 127 seats in 2002 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister. Congress holds the all-time record of 149 seats that it won in 1985 under the leadership of Madhavsinh Solanki. LIVE COVERAGE
Addressing the media, state party chief CR Patil said the oath-taking ceremony will be held on December 12 at 2 pm in Gandhinagar which would be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah.
"Bhupendra Patel will be the CM again," Patil announced and added, "Like BJP, Congress is also a national party. So for us, the main Opposition is Congress only. We do not consider any other party (AAP) place in Gujarat." Talking about Congress performance, Patli said, "Congress has lost 6-7 out of the 9 seats which it had never lost since independence."
BJP workers danced in joy as the saffron camp went into a festive mood after trends reflected the the party was all set to return to power for a seventh term in Gujarat. Hundreds of BJP workers thronged the party office in the capital Gandhinagar. They danced and distributed sweets outside the state party headquarters, as senior leaders started pouring in.
