BJP Set For Historic Seventh Consecutive Mandate

By: Sutanu Guru

According to the C Voter exit poll, the incumbent BJP which has already ruled Gujarat continuously for 27 years barring a brief revolt by Shankar Singh Vaghela, is projected win between 128 to 140 seats in the 182 member assembly

BJP looks all set to create history of a kind when assembly election results will be announced on December 8, 2022. It is projected to win a seventh consecutive term in power in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was revealed by an exclusive C Voter exit poll conducted on behalf of ABP News. According to the C Voter exit poll, the incumbent BJP which has already ruled Gujarat continuously for 27 years barring a brief revolt by Shankar Singh Vaghela, is projected win between 128 to 140 seats in the 182 member assembly. Despite 27 years of anti incumbency, the vote share of the BJP is expected to improve slightly from 49.1% in 2017 to 49.4% in these elections. In 2017, the BJP had won 99 seats, the lowest tally for the party since it first came to power in Gujarat in 1995. The increased vote share looks like a clear indicator of voter endorsement of the party despite the state facing a number of vexing problems ranging from unemployment to exam paper leaks to a sudden stagnation in growing agricultural prosperity.

In 2017, the Congress had put of a spirited fight and given a scare to the ruling BJP. In these elections, the C Voter exit polls have shown that the Aam Aadmi Party is emerging a formidable third force in the state. The exit poll projects a 15.4% vote share for AAP in the state. Most of it is doing at the cost of the Congress as its vote share is projected to slump from 41.4% to 32.5%. The AAP is projected to win between 3 to 11 seats while the Congress looks likely to win between 31 to 43 seats, significantly lower than the 77 it had won in 2017. If the exit poll numbers hold true, AAP looks all set to start emerging as a national political force.