In Gujarat, BJP created a history by getting 156 seats out of 182 (majority mark being 92). The Saffron brigade smashed its own record of the highest 127 seats in 2002 under Narendra Modi as the CM.
This has created a record in seventh consecutive term for the BJP, which has been ruling the state for 27 years since 1995. Gujarat had three chief ministers, including the incumbent Bhupendra Patel since 2014 after Modi became prime minister.
Modi was chief minister for 13 years. The massive verdict reflects people’s trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. This time BJP was not fighting the Gujarat State election to avert defeat but to increase its victory margin and win a greater number of seats in the 182-member Assembly.
BJP was eyeing a seventh straight win in Gujarat by banking on Hindutva tones and heavy dose of developmental projects. It even denied tickets to 38 MLAs to beat anti-incumbency. The electoral battle in Gujarat is also crucial for the BJP because it is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of the State have expressed their unflinching support for him for over two decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership in the last two decades has always put forward an idea that is for the benefit of people in Gujarat and also across India.
PM Modi had during his intensive Gujarat campaign urged people to help sitting CM Bhupendra Patel surpass the 2002 record. When the BJP came to power in the state in 1995, it won 121 seats; that peaked at 127 in the first election with Narendra Modi as chief minister in 2002, after the vicious riots earlier that year. In the second Modi-led election in 2007, the BJP got 117 seats; in 2012, it bagged 115 seats. The ruling party always counts on the plank of Hindutva, development and “double engine” growth.
The BJP, which had won 115 seats in 2012, had come down to 99 in 2017 primarily because of a spirited campaign waged by the Congress. The development model in Gujarat has been time and again cited by the BJP during the poll seasons over the years ever since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls were held.The grand old party’s campaign in the state was largely muted with the Bharat Jodo Yatra being held in other parts of the country. PM Modi held more than 30 rallies in the home state. Among other top BJP leaders that campaigned were UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Smriti Irani. BJP never takes the elections lightly. It has understood people’s exhaustion with the saffron party at the state level and has been making amends from time to time. In the last state election of 2017, when the BJP’s performance dipped, it was largely due to the Patidar agitation then led by Hardik Patel, that foregrounded issues of rural distress and lack of growth.
BJP’s decision to make Bhupendra Patel chief minister last year and bring the quota stir spearhead Hardik Patel into its fold has also worked in the party’s favour. The BJP is on a very strong wicket.
