BJP retains Gujarat for record 7th term

Bhupendra Patel, Bharatiya Janata Party’s soft-spoken face in Gujarat, is set to retain the chief ministerial chair after the party swept the state Assembly elections, trouncing rivals Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. (Image: ANI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has retained Gujarat again for a record seventh term by bagging 156 of the 182 Assembly seats, while the opposition Congress has won 17 seats and AAP got 5 seats.

BJP, which has been ruling the state since 1995, had set a target of 150 seats and campaigned aggressively across 182 Assembly constituencies. The party’s battle was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who addressed dozens of public rallies and road shows.

While addressing party workers at BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Narendra Modi said, "BJP has got the biggest mandate in the history of Gujarat. People have created a record in breaking records. When i was in Gujarat, I had told people that Narendra's record should be broken."

Prime Minister Modi remained successful in invoking Gujarati asmita (pride) with a number of developmental works, which the state has witnessed in the past two decades under the rule of the BJP.

He had also played on the slogan “Aa Gujarat mai banvyu chhe (I made this Gujarat)” in his first election rally after the declaration of polls in Kaparda, Valsad. Later, the party launched “Agresar Gujarat” (Gujarat ahead) campaign and sought public suggestions on the manifesto for the upcoming election.

BJP, through its social media, was keen on making an average Gujarati voter a stakeholder in the evolving Gujarat story and injecting a dose of pride into them. Political observers say the party’s strategy of roping in national-level leaders and MLAs from other states to reach out to voters of all linguistic backgrounds benefited it.

With election results declared on December 8, BJP has seen a rise in the number of seats. In 2017, the party was restricted to 99 seats, while the Congress had managed to get 77.  Even Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which shifted its focus to the state two months before the polls were announced, couldn’t make any dent.

Unlike the past Assembly elections when it was a direct fight between the BJP and Congress, this time AAP had made it a triangular contest. The party had portrayed itself as the main contestant against the BJP in the backdrop of its performance in Punjab, where it swept to power in February 2022.

The Congress, in the beginning, had waged a low-key campaign, but it gained momentum after the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections ended on November 12. Most of the party’s senior leaders stayed away from the state and instead devoted their time to the party’s presidential elections.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who’s currently leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was seen in the last leg of the campaign and addressed only two rallies. Experts say, his presence did not make any difference for the party.

Political experts also opined that Congress doesn’t have a tall national-level leader from Gujarat, who could engage with Gujaratis. Earlier, it had Ahmed Patel who would supervise the poll process in the best possible way.