The electoral race in Gujarat has come to end with a new boost and beginning for the BJP as the party is all set to retain its decades-long reign in the state. The BJP has swept Gujarat with a landslide victory and as the vote counting is still underway, the party hopes to get what it has aimed amidst the nationwide celebrations. 

Gujarat went to the polls in two phases on December 1 and December 5 while the votes were counted on Thursday. The state has recorded a voter turnout of around 64% and Gujarat has 182 assembly seats and the party which crosses the majority mark of 92 will rule the state. BJP has been ruling Gujarat since 1995 and over two decades, the party has been evasive from the anti-incumbency wave. 

With the strong pro-incumbency wave in the midst of political furores and setbacks from major events including the Morbi bridge collapse, the BJP was as strong as iron to win another term and being the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP had worked extensively in the state as any setbacks would have a nationwide impact on the party. 

The lack of strong opposition had also helped BJP to gain a comfortable victory. Ever since the vote counting began on Thursday morning, the BJP secured a major lead and the favourable trend for BJP wasn't overturned by the opposition as both the Congress and AAP weren't even close to BJP's tally. While BJP aimed to cross the 150-mark, the party will perhaps going to achieve it. 

According to the Election Commission data, the BJP has crossed 100 seats and on its way to set a new record. As per the data, BJP has officially won 136 seats and was leading in 21 seats by the time of writing this content. The BJP has secured 40 seats more than the majority mark while the Congress party has bagged 12 seats, which showcased the party's beleaguered politics in the state.

Aam Aadmi Party has secured four seats and significantly divided the vote share of the Congress party. Notably, BJP has shattered its own record through this landslide victory. The party's best record before this election was securing 127 seats in the 2002 assembly polls when Narendra Modi was the face of the party in Gujarat. Now, it has surpassed its record two decades later by bagging 136 seats. 

The political observers say that the humongous triumph would give a BJP a big push to face the upcoming polls including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. As per the election commission data, star candidates in BJP including Bhupendra Patel and Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba Jadeja have won the race in a huge margin. With the record-breaking result, BJP is hoping to achieve its aim of crossing 150 seats, which wasn't recorded by any party in Gujarat's history. 

Previously, the Congress Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki formed the government after Congress won 149 seats in 1985 polls. As BJP has a bright prospect of crossing over 100 seats in this polls, the party targeted to breach the 150 mark. So far, 163 seats in Gujarat had published an official result and of 163, BJP has bagged 139 seats. 

As the BJP is rolling out nationwide celebrations after the Gujarat victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the party's cadres in Gujarat and called them as a 'champion'. Taking to Twitter, Modi wrote, "To all hardworking BJP Gujarat Karyakartas I want to say - each of you is a champion! This historic win would never be possible without the exceptional hardwork of our Karyakartas, who are the real strength of our party." Responding to the party's failure, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "I am not taking credit for it... In a democracy wins and losses happen. It's our ideological fight. We will correct the shortcomings and continue to fight." 

To all hardworking @BJP4Gujarat Karyakartas I want to say - each of you is a champion! This historic win would never be possible without the exceptional hardwork of our Karyakartas, who are the real strength of our Party.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2022