Gandhinagar, Dec 8 (UNI) The BJP on Thursday retained power in Gujarat by registering a landslide victory in the Assembly elections.
The BJP has won 150 seats and is leading in six constituencies out of the 182 seats, the Election Commission data showed, till the filing of this report.
Among prominent candidates from the saffron party who registered victory in their respective seats are Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel from Ghatlodia and Hardik Patel from Viramgam.
The CM has retained the seat trouncing his nearest rival Congress candidate A Yajnik by a massive margin of over 1.9 lakhs votes. Patel, who was leading since initial
rounds of the counting, polled 2,13,530 votes, while Yajnik secured 21,267 votes.
Hardik Patel won by a margin of 51,707 votes defeating AAP's AA Thakor.
Opposition Congress which was eyeing to return to power, bagged 16 seats and is leading in one seat.
Congress nominee and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who was trailing from Vadgam in the early rounds of counting, trounced BJP's MJ Vaghela by a margin of 4,928
votes and retained the seat.
New entrant, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP won five seats.
AAP's Isudan Gadhvi, whom the party announced as its CM candidate, lost from Khambhalia constituency. BJP's Ayar Mulubhai Hardasbhai Bera defeated Gadhvi by a margin of 18,475 votes.
Samajwadi Party won one seat, while Independent won three seats, the poll panel data showed.
On BJP's massive victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a series of tweets wrote, "Thank you Gujarat. I am overcome with a lot of emotions seeing the phenomenal election results. People blessed the politics of development and at the same time expressed a desire that they want this momentum to continue at a greater pace. I bow to Gujarat’s Jan Shakti."
Expressing his gratitude to the party workers, Modi said, "This historic win would never be possible without the exceptional hardwork of our karyakartas, who are the real strength of our party."
Earlier, the CM has expressed his gratitude to the people of Gujarat for the party's stupendous victory.
"People of Gujarat have again supported the politics of 'development'. I thank the people of the state for reposing faith in BJP again," Patel said while addressing the BJP workers at the party's state headquarters.
Reacting to Gujarat polls results, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party MP Rahul Gandhi said, 'We accept the mandate of the people of Gujarat."
Congress general secretary incharge Communications, Jairam Ramesh in a tweet wrote, "The result in Gujarat is disappointing."
He added,"Our vote share gives us hope and confidence for rebuilding and revival. We are the only alternative in Gujarat."
The BJP had won 99 seats and the Congress 77 constituencies in 2017.
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