It’s 26-0 again in Modi’s state

Manas Dasgupta
Ahmedabad, May 23

The BJP is all set to repeat its charismatic performance of a clean sweep of all 26 seats in Gujarat, with 10 seats in the kitty, and a lead by over 1.25 lakh votes in all the other 16 seats.

The “Modi Magic” seemed to have cast its spell in the state Assembly byelections also with the BJP leading in all four seats which went to the poll along with the Lok Sabha in the state.  

Declaration of results is taking time as counting of VVPAT slips is going on, said a poll official.

Shah won from Gandhinagar — a seat earlier held by BJP patriarch L K Advani — by 5.57 lakh votes, defeating Congress rival CJ Chavda. Shah polled 8.94 lakh votes while Chavda got 3.37 lakh votes.

The margin of victory of the BJP's Navsari candidate C R Patil — 6.89 lakh — remains the highest in all twenty six seats so far. Patil had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Navsari by a margin of 5.58 lakh votes.

In other seats too, the BJP had established almost unbeatable leads of over one to two lakh votes. In Amreli, the Congress had high hopes from Paresh Dhanani, the popular current leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, but he also couldn’t save the day for the party.

Joining the party’s victory celebrations at its state headquarters, CM Vijay Rupani said it was not easy to repeat the 2014 performance of a clean sweep, “but it was made possible by the strong will of the people of the state and the country who were determined to retain Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister”.