BJP retains Gujarat for seventh time but loses Himachal to Cong

Ahmedabad / Shimla: Riding high on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP on Thursday retained power in Gujarat for a record seventh straight term to secure the biggest majority ever in the state.

The party however suffered a big blow in Himachal Pradesh where the Congress swept to power after five years securing 40 seats in the 68 member Assembly seizing power from the saffronists. Himachal thus continued with the tradition of nearly four decades of voting out the incumbent party.

Congress leaders credited its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi for the win which came as a boost for the grand old party in the home state of BJP President JP Nadda. In Gujarat where the PM addressed as many as 31 election rallies, the BJP crossed the three-fourths majority and in the process checkmated the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in triangular contests and also pushed the Congress down to its all time low.

Bhupendra Patel, the party's 60-year-old CM will continue in his post with his swearing-in ceremony scheduled for December 12. Patel won the Ghatlodia seat in Ahmedabad by a huge margin of 1.92 lakh votes. When reports last came in, the BJP had won 147 seats and was leading in 9 in a House of 182 garnering a vote share of nearly 53 percent.

The Party had won 99 seats in the 2017 Assembly polls. The Arvind Kejriwal-headed AAP won five seats. With a vote share of nearly 28 per cent, the Congress won 16 seats and was leading in one.  In Himachal Pradesh, the vote share difference between the Congress and BJP was less than one per cent.

Antiincumbency against the ruling BJP government coupled with the issue of price rise with Congress promising restoration of the old pension scheme and providing Rs 1,500 to every adult woman in the state seemed to be the main factors that worked in favour of the grand old party.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi thanked the people of the hill state for the "decisive win" and assured them that every promise made by the party will be fulfilled. The Congress won 40 of the 68 seats followed by the BJP, which bagged 25 seats