ME News Bureau: New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Gujarat Assembly elections for sixth consecutive time. However, the tough fight put up by Rahul Gandhi, the Congress president, showed that the Opposition party has emerged stronger. This is significant in view of the fact that only 18 months are left for the Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP emerged victorious with 44 seats while the Congress garnered 21 in the 68-seat Assembly. With this victory, the BJP and its allies have their governments in 19 states, while the Congress has four.
Though the BJP failed to touch the 100-mark in the 182-seat Assembly, its vote percentage has increased to 49.1 from 47.85 percent in 2012. It won less seats, 99 compared to 115 won in the 2012 election.
The Congress too enjoyed an increase in vote surge. Its share went up from 38.93 to 41.4 percent, while its number of seats grew from 61 to 77.
Modi’s high-intensity campaign got the better of everything that was said to work against the BJP: the ill-effects of demonetisation and GST on the business community; the coalition managed up by the Congress with local youth leaders — Mr Alpesh Thakor of the OBCs, Hardik Patel of the Patidars, Jignesh Mevani of the Dalits.
But most importantly, Rahul Gandhi could prove that that he could put up a good fight against the apparently unbeatable Modi.
