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Election News LIVE Updates: With polling concluded and exit polls out, all eyes are now set on the results of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled to be out on 8. While the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) seems confident of its victory in Gujarat, both Congress and the saffron party have claimed that they will get more than 40 seats of the total 68.

Exit polls have predicted a big majority for the BJP in Gujarat and a dead heat in Himachal Pradesh where most pollsters gave an edge to the ruling party over the Congress

Gujarat– which voted in two phases on December 1 and 5–  has registered a voter turnout of 64.33 per cent, a drop of more than 4 per cent compared to the turnout registered in the 2017 polls.

As per the latest data shared by the Election Commission on Tuesday, nearly 3.16 crore voters out of a total of 4.91 crores registered voters had turned up to exercise their franchise on December 1 and 5, it said.

A total of 1,621 candidates were in the fray for the elections to 182 seats in Gujarat where the BJP is seeking a seventh straight term while Congress is keen to improve its tally. The new-entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is trying to make a debut in the state where bipolar contests are the hallmarks of elections.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, Isudan Gadhvi (AAP’s CM candidate), Parshottam Solanki, a former BJP minister, Kunwarji Bavaliya, Kantilal Amrutiya, who is called as Morbi “hero”, Rivaba Jadeja (BJP), and Paresh Dhanani (Congress) were among the prominent contestants.

The counting of votes in both states will take place on December 8. Elections for the Himachal Pradesh assembly took place on November 12, while polling in Gujarat happened in two phases, on December 1 and 5.

All exit polls predicted a big mandate for the BJP in Gujarat in the range of 117-151 seats in the 182-member assembly, while the Congress was predicted to bag seats in the range of 16-51. The Aam Aadmi Party was projected to bag anything between two and 13 seats. The majority mark in Gujarat is 92.

In Himachal Pradesh, the exit polls projected a range of 24-41 seats for the BJP and 20-40 seats for the Congress. The majority mark is 35 seats.

The Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party unit is upbeat and confident of forming the next government in the state with all the exit polls predicting a big mandate for the saffron outfit. Gujarat BJP’s chief spokesperson Yamal Vyas claimed the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not win a single seat in the 182-member state Assembly.

Vyas said, “We were confident from the beginning that the people of Gujarat are with us and the BJP will register a grand victory.” “The people of Gujarat love our Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the work he has done for Gujarat and India. The exit poll figures reflect that love for our PM. Our workers on the ground also contributed to ensure that we win,” he said.

Vyas said the BJP was never worried about the AAP’s entry in Gujarat and did not feel the game could go in Kejriwal’s favour for his promises, such as free electricity.

In Himachal Pradesh, BJP state president Suresh Kashyap said heavy voting by the women electorate and the overall 76.61 per cent polling in the assembly elections was an indication that the saffron party would again form the government in the state.

In a press release issued here, he claimed the election results would be far more favourable than predicted in exit polls and the BJP will win more than 40 seats.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Naresh Chauhan too claimed that the grand-old party will get a majority in the assembly and the results would be much more favourable for it than projected in exit polls.

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