Gujarat election results: BJP seen winning 98 seats, Congress may bag 81

Vijay Rupani, who was earlier trailing, is now leading over Congress' Indranil Rajyaguru in Rajkot West seat

The BJP was on its way to retain power in Gujarat for the record sixth time, as the party was leading in 98 seats and won four others, according to the latest counting figures.

The Congress emerged victorious in one seat and was ahead of rivals in 81 others.

The Election Commission has so far declared five results, of which four seats have been won by the BJP and one by the Congress.

 

The Election Commission figures showed that the NCP was leading in one seat and the Bhartiya Tribal Party of Chottu Vasava in two seats. Three independents were also leading.

To form a government in the state, a party or a coalition needs at least 92 seats in the 182-member Assembly.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was earlier trailing after the count of postal ballots, is now leading over Congress' Indranil Rajyaguru in Rajkot West seat.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who was also trailing from Mehsana against Congress candidate Jivabhai Patel earlier, is now leading by a margin of over 7,000 votes.

BJP leader and state fisheries minister Babubhai Bokhiriya defeated senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia in Porbandar.

BJP's Suresh Patel defeated Congress candidate Shweta Brahmbhatt in Ahmedabad's Maninagar, the former constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by 75,199 votes.

In Mahuva seat of Bhavnagar, BJP's Raghav Makwana defeated independent Kanu Kalsaria.

The BJP also won the Umbergaon seat in Valsad.

The Congress won Mahudha seat in Kheda district where its nominee Indrajitsinh Parmar defeated BJP's Bharatsinh Parmar by 13,601 votes.

 

Congress' Alpesh Thakor is leading in Radhanpur seat against Lavingji Thakor of BJP.

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil is trailing against BJP's Virendrasinh Jadeja from Mandvi seat.

State BJP chief Jitu Vaghani is leading over Dilipsinh Gohil of Congress in Bhavnagar West.

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who is contesting from Vadgam seat as an independent with Congress' support, is leading over BJP candidate Vijay Chakravarti.

The elections for the 182-seat Assembly were held on December 9 and 14, after an acrimonious campaign, which was dominated by a face-off between Prime Minister Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

 

In the 2012 elections, the BJP had won 115 seats while the Congress emerged victorious in 61 seats.

The BJP has won every election since 1995 in the home state of Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. However, it was out of power for a couple of years due to party infighting and rebellion by Shankersinh Vaghela.

The saffron party came back to power in 1998, and has ruled uninterrupted since then.