Gujarat Elections: The Day for Narendra Modi to make Hat-Trick

It is a Results out day for Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, who had been campaigning hard for over a year to get the 3rd mandate in Gujarat Assembly.

The counting will begin at 8 am at 33 places in the state where 44,579 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) have been kept in strong rooms under heavy security.

Though, the ruling BJP is supremely confident it is today’s results which would decide if they get another 5 years or not.

The Subsequent future of Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Candidature also depends on today’s Results.

Gujarat recorded its highest voter turnout of 71.3 percent in the two-round elections to pick a new 182-seat assembly. The elections ended Monday.

The post-poll survey of 3755 persons at 239 locations in 60 constituencies in Gujarat shows that Modi is going to better the 2002 and 2007 results and win by a very handsome margin.

While the BJP will have a vote percentage of 48, the party is going to win 129-141 seats (the party had won 117 in 2007 in the 182-member Assembly) with the Congress trailing far behind with 36 per cent of the votes and its worst show in the state with only 37 to 45 seats (the party had won 59 in 2007).

The other smaller parties would garner 16 per cent of the votes and end up with 4 to 10 seats (others had won six seats which included three by the NCP, one by the JD(U) and two Independents in 2007).

BJP leader Jaynarayan Vyas asserted that the party would win the electoral battle with impressive margins.

“We will win on the basis of good governance, transparency and progress,” Vyas told IANS.

He said if the BJP wins, it would be the first time in Gujarat’s history that a chief minister would have won three successive elections.

Asked if Modi — who has been chief minister since 2001 — will have a national role if the party wins, Vyas said it was for Modi and the BJP to decide.

Although most exit polls have predicted a sweeping win for Modi, who is widely seen as a more powerful entity than the BJP in Gujarat, the Congress remains hopeful.

“We have promised to address concerns of people about water, electricity and housing,” state Congress spokesman Amee Yajnik said.

The millions of votes polled in Gujarat will be counted across the state Thursday from 8. a.m. under heavy security.

Though other BJP leaders also campaigned in the state, Modi remained the biggest crowd-puller.

Pitted against him were Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also campaigned in the state.