Summary:
Ahmedabad, Dec 8 (PTI) The ruling BJP in Gujarat is aiming for a straight seventh term in the state, as the counting of votes for the Assembly elections held on December 1 and 5 gets underway on Thursday morning.
The counting process will start at 8 am at 37 counting centres covering the 182 Assembly seats.
It was a high-stakes three-cornered fight between the BJP, Congress and AAP.
Political observers said the outcome will determine who captures the main opposition space in Gujarat.
Exit polls have predicted a big majority for the BJP in Gujarat and if these projections are any indication, the saffron party is all set to retain power in the state for the seventh consecutive term and equal Left Front’s feat in West Bengal.
For the BJP, a positive result will firm up Narendra Modi’s bid for a third consecutive term as PM in 2024.
For the Congress, its role as the main challenger to the BJP is at stake and Thursday’s results will reveal if the party’s ‘silent campaign’ has cut ice with people, an observer said.
Top leaders of the party were busy with the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
For AAP, which carried out an aggressive campaign, Gujarat election is a chance to establish itself as a pan-national party and a challenger to BJP at the national level also.
Emboldened by the victory in the Delhi municipal elections, AAP hopes that its welfare politics will be accepted by the people in Gujarat.
The BJP battled anti-incumbency sentiments after 27 years of rule in the state as it faced the recent elections.
Modi was the party’s trump card and the ruling party banked on Brand Modi containing the anti-incumbency factor.
Among the key issues in the elections were unemployment, price rise, water not reaching certain pockets of the state, land acquisition for big projects and farmers not getting proper compensation for crop damage due to excess rains.
The voting percentage this time around was almost four per cent less than what it was in 2017 as the state recorded 64.33 per cent voting against 68.39 per cent in 2017.
This decline was attributed to the general apathy of the urban voters to exercise their franchise.
The low voting percentage has left the BJP worried, and in the second phase the party made frantic efforts to increase the polling figures.
While the contest in Gujarat has traditionally been between the BJP and Congress, it was three-cornered this time around with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) entering the poll arena.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP poll campaign, addressing around 30 rallies and road shows in the state.
Union minister Amit Shah was in the state for almost two months, micromanaging the campaign and election strategy for the BJP.
Party president J P Nadda, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states including Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pramod Sawant also addressed election rallies in the state.
Almost all the Union ministers of BJP campaigned in the state.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi found time from his Bharat Jodo Yatra to address two rallies in Gujarat.