With early trends pointing to a sweeping victory for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that hasn’t lost an election in the state since 1995, counting of votes for a new assembly in Gujarat got underway Thursday. The results of the two-phase elections, held earlier this month, will be watched more for the performance of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party that seem to be locked in a battle to grab the status of the main opposition party in the state.
A good showing by AAP would have helped its leader Aravind Kejriwal to make his position as a main challenger to PM Modi in parliamentary elections due in 2024, while the Congress was not expected to clone its best performance of the earlier assembly elections held 5 years ago. The central government is facing problems with increased inflation, slowing growth and unemployment, but economic diversities are not likely to erode the importance of BJP in Gujarat.
Gujarat currently contains 182 assembly seats and the majority mark is 92. It is expected by the exit polls that the BJP would surely attain a 7th straight term. When it is compared to the earlier elections in 2017, voter turnout has been fallen to 4% this time. Covering the 182 Assembly seats, the vote counting will begin at 8 am at 37 counting centres. Ahmedabad will have 3 centers, while Surat will have 2 and Anand and one in each of the remaining thirty districts.