Gujarat Elections

New parties came to Gujarat, were wiped out: Amit Shah taunts AAP

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying that new parties came to Gujarat, made tall claims and promised guarantees ahead of the Assembly elections, but were wiped out after the results. In a virtual address to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Surat, he also said that the party's landslide victory in the state proves that Gujarat was and will always remain the saffron outfit's stronghold. "New parties came to Gujarat, made tall claims and gave guarantees, but after the election results they were wiped out," Shah said. In the recently-concluded Gujarat Assembly elections, the BJP scripted history by winning 156 out of the total 182 seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which ran a high-decibel campaign and made several poll promises, managed to win only five seats, while the Congress party finished second by bagging 17 seats. "This historic win (of the BJP) gave a message to the country that Gujarat was, is and will always be BJP's ...

PM Modi felicitated at BJP meeting over record-breaking win in Gujarat

The jubilation in the BJP over its record-breaking win in the Gujarat polls echoed in its parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was felicitated for the victory. The prime minister, in turn, heaped praised on the state unit, especially its president C R Paatil and said the victory is owed to the BJP's organisational strength, Union minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters after the meeting. Party sources added that Modi said the Gujarat unit of the BJP is an example of how poll win is possible if the party organisation is strong. The prime minister's high praise for Paatil, a close confidant of him, underlines his rising stock within the party. Modi also praised party's national president J P Nadda. In his speech, Modi also spoke of India's G-20 presidency and asked MPs to come out with innovative ideas to involve people in organising various events across the country in the run up to the summit meeting next year. With numerous foreign delegates expe

PM Modi holds roadshow in Ahmedabad after BJP's landslide win in Gujarat

BJP swept the Gujarat Assembly election with a whopping 156 seats, which is the highest number of seats any party has won after the formation of the state in the year 1960

Bhupendra Patel to take oath for his second term as Gujarat CM today

Patel will be administered the oath as the 18th Chief Minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat in Gandhinagar at 2 pm

22% Gujarat MLAs have criminal cases; BJP's Rivaba Jadeja among the richest

As many as 22 per cent winning candidates or 40 out of the total 182 in the recently concluded Gujarat Assembly elections have criminal cases against their names, according to an analysis by ADR

Amit Shah's 'taught a lesson' remark not violative of poll code: Report

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark at an election rally in Gujarat that perpetrators of violence were "taught a lesson" in 2002 was not violative of the model code of conduct, Election Commission sources said on Saturday. After going through the report of the state chief electoral officer and seeking legal opinion, the poll panel concluded that referring to taking action against "miscreants" was not violative of the provisions of the poll code. A former bureaucrat had moved the poll panel over the statement Shah made at an election rally in Mahudha town of Kheda district last month. In the rally, Shah had said, "During the Congress rule in Gujarat (before 1995), communal riots were rampant. Congress used to incite people of different communities and castes to fight against each other. Through such riots, Congress strengthened its vote bank and did injustice to a large section of the society." He had claimed that Gujarat witnessed riots in 2002 because the perpetrators became ..

Patel to continue as Guj CM, elected leader of BJP legislative party

Bhupendra Patel will continue as the chief minister of Gujarat for a second straight term with the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs electing him as the leader of the legislative party during a meeting here on Saturday. Patel's name was declared as the leader of the legislative party unanimously at the meeting held at the party's state headquarters 'Kamalam'. "The newly-elected MLAs met today at 'Kamalam,' where the proposal to name Bhupendra Patel as the chief minister of Gujarat was unanimously approved," the BJP said in a statement. Patel, 60, had resigned as the chief minister along with his entire cabinet on Friday to pave the way for formation of a new government in the state after the BJP registered a landslide victory in the just concluded Assembly elections. Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, B S Yediyurappa and Arjun Munda were present for the meeting as the party's central observers. Patel won a second straight term from the Ghatlodia Assembly seat in Ahmed

Newly-elected Guj BJP MLAs meet begins to choose legislative party leader

A meeting of the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs in Gujarat began here on Saturday to pick a new legislative party leader, who will take over as the next chief minister of the state. The meeting is underway at the BJP's state headquarters 'Kamalam'. Bhupendra Patel, 60, on Friday resigned as the chief minister along with his entire cabinet to pave the way for formation of a new government in the state after the ruling BJP won a landslide victory in the just concluded Assembly elections. Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, B S Yediyurappa and Arjun Munda are present for the meeting as the party's central observers. The meeting to pick a new leader is said to be just a formality as the party has already announced that Patel, who won a second straight term from the Ghatlodia Assembly seat in Ahmedabad district by 1.92 lakh votes, will remain the chief minister. Patel had replaced Vijay Rupani as Gujarat chief minister in September last year. The party has already announ

Congress' Imran Khedawala lone Muslim MLA in new Gujarat Assembly

Imran Khedawala of the Congress is the only Muslim candidate to be elected to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly in the just concluded polls, which saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win a landslide victory. The outgoing Assembly had three Muslim legislators, all from the Congress. Khedawala, the sitting Congress MLA from the Jamalpur-Khadia Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad city, won the election by a margin of 13,658 votes on Thursday to retain the seat. He defeated his nearest rival, Bhushan Bhatt of the BJP, in the Muslim majority constituency, where state president of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and former MLA Sabir Kabliwala was also in the fray. The Congress had fielded six Muslim candidates, including three siting MLAs. Of these, five candidates, including two MLAs, lost. In 2017, three of five candidates from the minority community fielded by the main Opposition party had emerged victorious. Muslims account for around 10 per cent of Gujarat's

Cong forced to look for existence after BJP's record win in Guj: Scindia

The Congress has been "forced" to look for its existence after the record victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the just concluded Gujarat Assembly polls, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday. The BJP has won 156 seats in the 182-member Assembly in the western state, the highest tally garnered by any party in Gujarat's 62-year-old history. The Opposition Congress managed to emerge victorious on just 17 seats, down from 77 it had won in 2017. "Today, the condition of Congress is such that it is forced to look for its existence," Scindia, who arrived here to take part in various programmes, told reporters. Speaking about Assembly poll result in Himachal Pradesh, another state where elections were held recently, he said though the Congress has got a majority in the 68-member House and unseated the BJP, the difference in vote share between the two parties was miniscule. "Earlier, whenever governments changed in Himachal Pradesh, the difference in vote share woul

Gujarat: Month after bridge collapse, BJP wins Morbi by over 62k votes

The collapse of a suspension bridge in Gujarat's Morbi town that claimed 135 lives did not affect the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) winning streak in the constituency as its candidate won by more than 62,000 votes. Five-time MLA Kantilal Amrutiya's victory margin on Thursday was almost 15 times that of Brijesh Merja who had won by 4,600 votes in the 2020 byelection on a BJP ticket. This time, Amrutiya managed to win more than 1.14 lakh votes, while his closest rival, the Congress's Jayantilal Patel, received 52,000 and the Aam Aadmi Party's Pankaj Ransariya got nearly 17,500 votes. Amrutiya shot to nationwide fame when videos showing him jumping into the river to rescue people after the bridge collapse on October 30 went viral. He was hailed as Morbi hero. While Amrutiya had won from Morbi five times in the past (he had lost in 2017 and 2020), Congress's Jayantilal Patel had lost five times to his BJP rivals earlier. The contest turned triangular this time with the AAP fielding .

Bhupendra Patel resigns as Gujarat CM, BJP to elect new leader on Saturday

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and his cabinet tendered their resignations to Governor Acharya Devvrat on Friday to pave the way for the formation of a new government

Guj poll result HIGHLIGHTS: Massive victory for BJP, Patel to be CM again

Gujarat election result 2022: Exit polls have predicted a landslide win for the ruling BJP, while AAP could see a 'positive sign'. Stay tuned for Gujarat Assembly election result LIVE updates

Landslide win of PM Modi's BJP in Gujarat polls makes global headlines

Noting how BJP has not lost a Gujarat assembly election since 1995, Japan's Nikkei Asia attributed this win to PM Modi's popularity in the state

Most exit polls get Guj result right, fail to call HP elections correctly

All exit polls predicted a BJP win in Gujarat but only a few got its scale right, while for Himachal Pradesh, most pollsters got it wrong as they failed to predict a Congress win. The BJP posted a historic victory in Gujarat, winning 156 seats in the 182-member state assembly. The Congress party finished second, winning a paltry 17 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party bagged just five. The Aaj Tak-Axis My India exit poll nearly got it right as it had predicted 129-151 seats for the BJP, 16-30 seats for the Congress and 9-21 seats for the AAP. News 24-Today's Chanakya also was close in its prediction as it had projected an average of 150 seats for the BJP, 19 for the Congress and 11 for the AAP. Both pollsters were a little off the mark in predicting the AAP's seats. All pollsters called the result right but failed to accurately predict the scale. While ABP News C-Voter had predicted 128-140 seats for the BJP, 31-43 for the Congress and 3-11 for the AAP, the News X-Jan Ki Baat exit pol

Gujarat polls: Away in 2017, Patidars back BJP to the hilt in 2022

The Patidar community, a section of which had voted against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2017 Assembly polls held in the backdrop of the quota agitation in Gujarat, returned to the ruling outfit in the just concluded polls as it won almost all the seats dominated by the influential social group in 2022. The BJP has done extremely well in the Patidar-dominated constituencies of the state, winning almost every seat that has significant Patel population. Polling for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly took place on December 1 and 5, and votes were counted on December 8. In the Saurashtra region, the Congress had won Patidar-dominated seats of Morbi, Tankara, Dhoraji and Amreli, among others in 2017. However, all these Assembly segments this time went in the BJP's kitty. In Patidar-dominated Surat, where the AAP was banking on the community to bag a few seats, the social group by and large backed the ruling party. The saffron outfit won Patidar seats of Varachha Road, Katargam

AAP made 'impressive entry' in Gujarat, gave tough fight to BJP: Italia

The Aam Adami Party has made an "impressive entry' into the Bharatiya Janata Party's bastion of Gujarat, giving a "tough fight" to the ruling outfit in the just concluded Assembly polls, state AAP president Gopal Italia said on Thursday. The Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit contested 181 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat, but end up winning just five seats on Thursday, securing about 13 per cent vote share. Italia termed the AAP's win in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state as "victory of Kejriwal's politics of honesty" and vowed to make the party a "formidable challenger" of the BJP in Gujarat in the coming years. "It's a historic day as the Aam Adami Party today made an impressive entry into Gujarat, which is the BJP stronghold. We gave a tough fight to the rival and won five seats. It's a revolution in Gujarat and victory of Arvind Kejriwal's honest politics," he said at a press conference in Surat. The AAP's Gujarat unit chief, who contested from the Katargam Assemb

Best of BS Opinion: Winning ways, the end of Covid Zero, and more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

AAP becoming national party thanks to people of Gujarat: Manish Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said the Aam Aadmi Party is on course to become a national party thanks to the votes given by the people of Gujarat. With counting of votes crossing the halfway mark in most constituencies of Gujarat, the BJP has received 53 per cent of the votes counted, while the Congress has 27 per cent and the AAP 13 per cent. "Due to the votes given by the people of Gujarat, the AAP is today becoming a national party. The politics of education and health is making a mark for the first time in the country. Congratulations to the entire country on this," he said in a tweet in Hindi. The BJP appeared headed for a landslide victory in Gujarat as the latest trends showed the party was leading in 155 of the state's 182 Assembly seats that went to polls earlier this month. The Congress was seen finishing a distant second, with leads in 18 seats, while the AAP was leading in six seats. Others, including independent candidate, were ahead in three

Off the mark: Pollsters faltered in Gujarat again, and in Himachal as well

In Gujarat, the number of seats won on smaller margins had redu­ced