Gujarat Election Results 2022: It was a 'Thursday treat' for both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress as people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elected them to power respectively. The BJP retained its citadel Gujarat with an enormous seventh consecutive victory, however, it failed to change the 'riwaaz' in Himachal Pradesh - a state that has a history of not giving consecutive terms to any party. The Congress returned to power with a comfortable majority in the home state of BJP president JP Nadda.
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2022: FULL COVERAGE
Historic victory
The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years but it never registered such a record-shattering victory in state Assembly elections. The saffron party has not only bettered its own 2002 tally, it has also surpassed the best performance by any party in Gujarat. In 2002, BJP had won 127 of 182 Gujarat Assembly seats. The majority mark is 92. In 1985, the Congress, under the leadership of Madhavsinh Solanki had grabbed a huge 149 seats. But BJP's 2022 victory is colossal. The party, till the filing of this report, has won/is ahead 157 seats, Congress a poor second with 17 seats. The new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to get five seats, others four. (The final tally is yet to be announced by the Election Commission).
The BJP, which banked on the development agenda highlighting Modi's 'Gujarat model', has now equalled the Left Front’s feat of seven consecutive terms in West Bengal. The CPI(M)-led Front ruled the eastern state for 34 years from 1977 to 2011.
Most of the exit polls had predicted a majority for the BJP, but none indicated such a sweep by the saffron party in PM Modi's home state. India TV-Matrize exit poll had said that BJP will retain power winning a comfortable majority by grabbing 112 to 121 seats.
Modi magic works yet again
The BJP left no stone unturned to junk any anti-incumbency talks unleashing a battery of Union ministers for campaigning in Gujarat. From Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union minister Smriti Irani to CMs Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, all the big guns camped in Gujarat for days to ensure that voters don't get swayed by promises of either Congress or AAP. Infact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself held as many as 31 rallies across the state steamrolling the opposition.
Congress relegated
The Congress, which gave a real scare to the BJP in 2017 polls winning 77 seats, collapsed like a house of cards in 2022. Despite a strong ground level organisation in Gujarat, the party lacked focus in these assembly polls. With Rahul Gandhi concentrating on his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', it was left to the state party leaders to convince the voters to trust the party, however, they could do little. Congress' poor show can also be attributed to Aam Aadmi Party's performance in its maiden election in the western state. The AAP hit Congress in the rural and tribal areas hard as poll percentage suggests.
AAP dents Congress, announces itself as 'national party'
Emboldened by its victory in Punjab, the AAP, which is also in power in Delhi, had hoped to its politics of welfarism will be accepted by the people in Gujarat. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party carried out a high-decibel campaign in its attempt to make it a three-way fight. But with just five seats to its name, AAP fell short of its own expectations.
ALSO READ: A flop show for AAP in Gujarat as CM face Isudan Gadhvi fails to connect with the masses
A good show in Gujarat could have helped Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cement his place as a key challenger to Prime Minister Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Nevertheless, Kejriwal came out smiling addressing the people on national television to thank them for making AAP a 'national party'.
"Today, the AAP has become a national party. Results of Gujarat Elections have come and the party has become a national party. 10 yrs ago AAP was a small party, now after 10 yrs it has govts in 2 states and has become a national party," Kejriwal said.
Bhupendra Patel set to take oath on Dec 12
CM Bhupendra Patel, who himself registered a comfortable victory from Ghatlodia seat, is set to take oath as Gujarat CM for the second term on December 12. PM Modi and other top ministers, CMs of BJP-ruled states are also likely to attend the event at Gandhinagar.
