Video: Anoushka Rajesh
The Bharatiya Janata Party has won its seventh consecutive Assembly election in Gujarat - and how!
RECORD BROKEN #1: Biggest Haul For BJP
At 3:30 pm on Counting Day, the BJP was leading in 157 seats, according to the Election Commission. That is a whopping 86% of the total seats in the state.
If the trends hold, it will be the highest number of seats that the BJP has won in Gujarat...ever!
RECORD BROKEN #2: The Biggest Ever in Gujarat
Not just is it the BJP's highest total ever in Gujarat, it is also the highest ever total by any party in an Assembly election in the state!
Can you guess which party comes in second place on the list - for the highest ever tally in a Gujarat Assembly election?
It's not the BJP, but actually the Congress. In 1985, Madhavsinh Solanki of the Congress stitched together a social engineering coalition which was named 'KHAM', after its constituents - Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim. The Congress won 149 of the 182 seats that year.
RECORD BROKEN #3: BJP Bests BJP, Vote Share Is Proof
Prior to this, the BJP’s best performance was in 2002, when they won 127 out of 182 seats. After that, even though they remained in power, their seat tally only dipped, garnering 117 seats in 2007, 115 in 2012 and 99 in 2017.
After results of various exit polls were released on 5 December, there was speculation that the BJP might increase its vote tally without adding to its vote share - especially if the Aam Aadmi Party, the newest major player in Gujarat, increased its own vote share by taking away voters from the Congress instead of from the BJP.
However, the vote share numbers on Counting Day present a more nuanced picture of the situation.
According to Election Commission data as of 2 pm on Counting Day, the BJP has secured a vote share of 52.5%. In 2017, the BJP had won 49% vote share. So, that's an increase of around 3.5% this election.
That is certainly no mean feat - especially when you account for the fact that this is the seventh consecutive time that the party has won the Gujarat Assembly election. BJP was therefore technically facing around 27 years of anti-incumbency.
A vote share higher than 2017 would mean that this election has seen the BJP's highest vote share ever in a Gujarat Assembly election.
RECORD BROKEN #4: Only Behind Congress 1985 in Vote Share
The BJP's current vote share in 2022 (as of 3:30 pm) is also the second highest vote share by any party ever in a Gujarat Assembly election, lower only than the Congress' 55% vote share in 1985.
RECORD BROKEN #5: Seven Consecutive Times!
With the 2022 victory being their seventh consecutive Assembly election win in Gujarat, the BJP has equalled the Left Front's record in West Bengal for seven consecutive terms at the helm of a state government.
No other party in no other Indian state has had more consecutive terms in power.
How's that for historic?
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