A majority of Congress turncoats or their family members fielded by BJP emerged victors on Thursday in the Gujarat assembly polls as the saffron party coasted to a seventh straight victory in the state, powered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma. But BJP rebels who contested as Independents weren’t so lucky, managing to win three seats, though they did cut into votes of both BJP and Congress.
READ MOREBJP won a majority of the vote in Gujarat with 52. 5% vote share, easily trumping the combined 40. 2% won by Congress and AAP put together.
Full list of winnersWhile a number of BJP’s elected legislators racked up in large victory margins on Thursday, some contestants of major parties lost their security deposits —an indicator of clear rejection by voters. While 128 of the 181 candidates fielded by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost their deposits, the Congress saw its candidates losing their deposits on 41 seats. A candidate loses his or her security deposit with the returning officer if the number of validvotes polled by the candidate is less than a sixth (16. 67%) of the total number of valid votes polled.
READ MORECongratulating BJP for its “record-breaking and historic” win in Gujarat, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray took a dig at his party’s erstwhile ally on Thursday, saying its victory may have been the result of big industries being “driven away” from Maharashtra to Gujarat. He noted that the Gujarat elections were again contested under PM Modi’s leadership, and that was why the people had voted for BJP in a big way. Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray demanded that elections should now be held in Maharashtra.
READ MOREFive years ago, ahead of 2017 polls, theirs was the most vociferous voice against the governing BJP as they fought for the issues of their respective castes. On Thursday, the ‘Three Musketeers of Gujarat’ as they had come to be known in the last elections got elected to the Gujarat state assembly. While Patidar quota leader Hardik Patel and OBC leader Alpesh Thakor got elected as BJP candidates, Jignesh Mevani who had won as an independent previously, survived the saffron wave and won on a Congress ticket.
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