BJP chief Nadda says party will form govt in Gujarat with big majority

BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday welcomed the announcement of the Gujarat assembly polls and claimed that his party will again form "double engine" government in the state with a big majority under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

In a tweet after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, Nadda added that the BJP will work with commitment to fulfil people's aspirations in the next five years.

Assembly elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 with the counting of votes on December 8 along with that of Himachal Pradesh, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Thursday.

Of the total 182 assembly seats in Gujarat, voting for 89 seats will be held on December 1 and the remaining 93 seats on December 5, Kumar told a press conference that was also attended by Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey and senior officials from the poll authority.

The BJP has won six consecutive assembly polls since 1995 with the Congress struggling to dislodge it from power, though it put up a stiff fight in the last elections in 2017.

The entry of the Aam Aadmi Party and its high-octane campaign coupled with populist promises such as free power may alter the conventional bipolar elections in the state.