Gujarat, Himachal poll results: BJP gets majority in both the states

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won majority in Gujarat assembly polls, according to Election Commission tally. The party is also heading for the two-third majority in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh. 

For a brief moment, however, the BJP followers as well as stock markets were agitated when Congress surged ahead of its rival party in Gujarat. But as the counting progressed, the saffron outfit regained its lead and by the late evening was leading in numbers in both the states. 

The greater number will return the BJP to power but it will be lower than the 150 targeted by the party in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pocket boroughs. 

Since Gujarat was one of the worst affected states due to demonetisation and implementation of GST, political pundits believed that the ruling party would suffer losses as the its voter base in urban areas of Gujarat was reportedly irked with the two policies. 

The BJP, however, managed to win urban seats comfortably beating the political predictions. But the fact can not be denied that BJP has won fewer seats this time than in the 2012 elections. 

If we look at BJP's vote share in Gujarat, it has slumped sharply since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when it clocked nearly 60 per cent votes in comparison to Congress which has improved significantly.

As per the Election Commission, the BJP has got close to 49.1 per cent votes, down from nearly 60 per cent in 2014 but somewhat higher than nearly 48 per cent it polled in the 2012 state assembly polls.

Congress' vote share, however, has risen to about 41.4 per cent this time -- up from 33 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The vote share is also higher than around 39 per cent in the 2012 assembly polls.

The difference in vote share between the two parties reportedly works out to be around 7.7 per cent, in line with a shrinking gap witnessed since the 2007 assembly polls in the PM Modi's home state.

The poll results may perhaps force the Modi-led government to restrategise as it readies itself for the 2019 general elections. 

This may also lead to the announcement of pro-people programmes in the upcoming budget for the backward classes as the government would like to increase its grip on them. Since the Budget 2018 will be the last full budget by the BJP-led NDA government, it will certainly incorporate the learnings of the Gujarat polls.

How far it will go ahead on the path of fiscal prudence will also be seen in the next Union budget 2018, but the government will have no choice but to concentrate on job-creating sectors to create maximum job opportunities.

(With Agency Inputs)