Gujarat Assembly Election Result 2022: Will BJP see an encore in Modi's home state or will AAP dent its chances?

As Gujarat Assembly elections 2022 counting begins tomorrow, the ruling BJP in Gujarat is aiming for a straight seventh term in the state. It was a high-stakes three-cornered fight between the BJP, Congress and AAP. Political observers said the outcome will determine who captures the main opposition space in Gujarat. Exit polls have predicted a big majority for the BJP in Gujarat and if these projections are any indication, the saffron party is all set to retain power in the state for the seventh consecutive term and equal Left Front’s feat in West Bengal.

People fed up with state leaders of BJP, their corrupt government; AAP will win polls: Isudan Gadhvi

With the BJP building its campaign around Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AAP's chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi on Saturday said this shows how people of Gujarat are fed-up with the ruling party's state leaders and claimed his party is on course to end its uninterrupted reign of nearly 25 years.

Amit Shah 'intoxicated with power', says Owaisi on 'BJP taught perpetrators of violence a lesson' remark

All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his "BJP taught perpetrators of violence a lesson in 2002" remark, saying nobody stays in power forever.

Owaisi also accused Shah of being intoxicated with power. Addressing an election rally in Gujarat on Friday, Shah had said that anti-social elements stopped indulging in violence after they were "taught a lesson" in 2002 and that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) established "permanent peace" in the state.

Water needs to dominate voter minds in Gujarat’s Tharad’s constituency

“There is no water, give us water.” As the sun beats down on arid flatlands punctuated by salt marshes, it’s the one demand and paramount need verbalised by voters in this border area when candidates call on them in this election season.In the ebb and flow of life, water is the exigency, cutting through lines in a society riven by caste, the deciding factor for weddings with parents preferring to fix their daughters’ weddings in villages close to the only Narmada canal in the area. And the undercurrent running through the campaign of all party candidates in Banaskantha’s Tharad constituency, about 40 km from the Pakistan border and just 15 km from Rajasthan.

Congress and like-minded parties view terrorism as shortcut to achieve success: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Congress, alleging that the party "looks at terrorism through the eyes of appeasement and vote bank politics." Modi was speaking in Kheda in central Gujarat, considered a Congress stronghold which will go to polls on December 1 in first phase.

Gujarat polls: In communally-sensitive Godhra, AIMIM seeks to cement gains it made in 2021 civic elections

After an impressive show in last year’s civic body polls in Godhra, a communally-sensitive town in Gujarat, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM is now trying to build upon those gains in this Assembly seat in the upcoming state elections, banking on the minority base and division of votes of other candidates.

AAP candidate withdraws from Gujarat elections, joins BJP

Aam Aadmi Party's Abdasa constituency candidate Vasant Khetani has withdrawn from the Assembly elections and joined the BJP candidate. A video clip of him making the announcement has surfaced. On Sunday evening, Vasant Khetani went out of his party, AAP's reach and rumours started that he has been kidnapped or has gone underground under political pressure. A few hours later a video clip surfaced in which he states, "In the national interest, I am retiring from the election in favour of a BJP candidate and have joined the BJP."

The importance of Gujarat rhetoric

The Gujarat elections are important not because they are a thrilling photo finish or a close contest. They matter as the rhetoric and symbols used in Gujarat are the source origin of the model of Hindutva currently in ascendance in India, and they give us clues to what more is to come in the future—in the rest of the country.

Share of candidates with criminal records goes up in Gujarat polls

The number of candidates with criminal records has gone up substantially in the Gujarat Assembly polls this year. All the three major parties have fielded candidates having criminal records.

Similarly, the number of crorepati candidates has also increased in the state as out of the 833 candidates, 245 (29 per cent) are crorepatis whereas in 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections phase II, out of 822 candidates 199 (24 per cent) were crorepatis.

Hope Gujarat witnesses record turnout in assembly polls: PM Modi

Modi's remarks came after Jam Saheb Shatrushalya Singhji, scion of the Jamnagar royal family, cast his vote at his residence in the presence of the deputy collector and other election officials on Monday. Tagging a tweet by the Press Information Bureau in Gujarat, Modi said, "I commend Jam Saheb Shri Shatrusalyasinhji for this remarkable passion towards the festival of democracy. Inspired by him, I hope Gujarat witnesses a record turnout, particularly among young and first time voters," the prime minister said.

‘2002 created a complete turnaround for BJP in Gujarat’

"I think in 2002, we saw a Gujarat that had riots and curfews on a daily basis. These are now a matter of the past. What we have seen in these years is all-round development. The country’s biggest contribution to GDP is coming from Gujarat. I think it is now a completely new Gujarat, without riots and curfews; there is complete peace and harmony, and Gujarat now symbolises the epitome of development," says Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Gujarat elections: AAP’s wager — urban or rural votes?

Armed with his trademark style of bowling with repartees, Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwalsaid at a press conference at Surat that he has a few predictions in store for the Gujarat Assembly elections, since his predictions for Punjaband Delhi were proven true.

'There must be a strong government': Despite complaints, many Gujarat voters favour BJP

Tulsidas Lakhani from Porbandar has many grievances and a long wishlist of tasks the government must accomplish. Almost 400 km away in Gujarat’s principal town Ahmedabad, Vinod Gopal echoes his frustration. In a state where the BJP remains the dominant force and enjoys unqualified support from a big chunk of people, Lakhani and Gopal may sound like voters looking for change. But they are not.

Read more

In Gujarat, Patidars hold key to power as their anger against the BJP wanes

All eyes are once again on the less-in-number yet influential Patidar or Patel community of Gujarat, which had put the ruling BJP on the edge in the 2017 Assembly elections that took place in the shadow of Hardik Patel-led quota agitation to secure OBC status for the community.

Rebels & inflation, BJP's challenges in Saurashtra

Not just the BJP — Saurashtra shocked the party in the 2017 Assembly polls — even the Congress remains wary of the region and its people.In 1973, protests by students of the Morbi Engineering College over the increase in food bills spread to the entire state. It culminated in the Navnirman movement that dislodged the Congress government in the state. According to Prime Minister Modi, the movement shaped his political awakening.

Congress has destroyed Gujarat and entire country: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Leading BJP's poll campaign from the front, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed four rallies in Gujarat. Addressing an election gathering of tribals in Dahod, the Prime Minister said that it was BJP which gave the country its first tribal, that too, a woman, President- Droupadi Murmu.Criticising the Congress that despite having ruled for decades, the party didn't appoint a tribal to the top post, the PM said that instead of supporting BJP's move, the Congress opposed the nomination of Murmu.
Read more

Winning Anand after 25 years, can Congress milk a victory and do an encore?

Winning the Anand Assembly seat in 2017 after 25 years, can the Congress milk a victory and do an encore in what is mainly seen as a two-way fight with the BJP, which is banking on its good showing in the civic polls to continue.Congress's Kanti Sodaparmar, the sitting MLA who had won the seat for his party in 2017 by a margin of little over 5,000 votes, says he is confident of a repeat victory by a bigger margin.

Read more

Gujarat polls: Anand, a depleting milk hub in Congress bastion

Shrikant Patel says there is not much hope from the milk industry at Gujarat’s famed dairy hub Anand. Patel works at the Nalini Arvind and TV Patel Arts College at the Vallabh Vidyanagar, the education hub instituted by Sardar Patel, but he’s a farmer, too. He had a dozen cows till two years ago, but now he has just two milch cows for his personal consumption.
Read more

Gujarat elections: A tale of two constituencies

As the BJP’s high-pitched campaign in Gujarat gears up for the second phase of polling, there are two constituencies where the party’s stakes are visibly high. Unjha in Vadnagar and Mansa in Gandhinagar are linked to the tallest leaders. Vadnagar is home to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Mansa is where Amit Shah spent the formative years of his life.

Read more

Gujarat elections: How BJP campaigned in Gujarat

As the campaigning for the last phase of the Gujarat assembly polls came to an end, the Bharatiya Janata Party has left no stone unturned in its campaigning, as it grappled with an undercurrent of support for the AAP and Congress amid mounting anti-incumbency. Flash mobs, magic shows, and raths with ‘smart’ yatra were at the heart of the party’s campaign.With curtains drawn on the campaign, party leaders shared how prime minister Narendra Modi's rallies were the centrepiece of the campaign.

Read more

'There must be a strong government': Despite complaints, many Gujarat voters favour BJP

Tulsidas Lakhani from Porbandar has many grievances and a long wishlist of tasks the government must accomplish. Almost 400 km away in Gujarat’s principal town Ahmedabad, Vinod Gopal echoes his frustration."There must be a strong government. Which other party could have revoked Article 370 or built a Ram temple in Ayodhya. We vote for the party and not any candidate. There is no alternative to Modi or the BJP," Lakhani, who is in his 80s, told PTI.

Read more