Today, with the Congress and the new-entrant AAP aiming make a mark on a turf where the BJP has a stronghold.
The counting of votes began at 8 am for the Gujarat Legislative Assembly election 2022, the first phase polling of which took place on December 1, while the second phase was on December 5. Elections for the Himachal Pradesh assembly took place on November 12 and counting of votes for that, too, is taking place today.
But the Saffron party has little to prove today and is looking forward to a comfortable return to a seventh term in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home turf, as exit polls have projected a clean sweep.
Gujarat registered a combined voter turnout of 64.33 percent in both phases this time, a drop of more than 4 percent compared to the turnout registered in the 2017 assembly polls.
The state has 182 assembly seats, which makes 92 the simple majority mark that a party needs to secure to form government.
As per the latest data shared by the Election Commission on Tuesday, the voter turnout for the first phase of elections held on December 1 for 89 seats was 63.31 percent and 65.30 percent for the second phase of polling held on December 5 for 93 seats.
The average turnout for all the 182 seats spread across 33 districts was 64.33 percent, a drop of 4.08 percent in comparison to the 2017 Assembly polls when Gujarat had registered 68.41 percent voting.
What do The Exit Polls Say:
Exit polls for Gujarat had only good news for the BJP as all of them predicted a sweeping victory for the Saffron party 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 and AAP was projected to secure anything between two and 13 seats.
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.
While the Aaj Tak-Axis My India predicted 129-151 seats for the BJP, 16-30 seats for the Congress and 9-21 seats for the Aam Aadmi Party, ABP News C-Voter predicted 128-140 seats for the BJP, 31-43 for the Congress and 3-11 for AAP.
News 24-Today’s Chanakya also predicted a huge majority for the BJP in Gujarat with its survey stating that the BJP was likely to get 150, Congress 19 and AAP 11.
News X-Jan Ki Baat exit poll on Gujarat elections said the BJP was likely to get 117-140 seats, Congress-NCP 34-51, AAP 6-13 and others 1-2.
Republic TV P-MARQ predicted the BJP would bag 128-148 seats, the Congress-NCP 30-42, AAP 2-10 and others 0-3 seats. TV9 Gujarati forecast that the BJP would get 125-130 seats, Congress-NCP 40-50, AAP 3-5 and others 3-7.
According to India TV-Matrize exit poll, the BJP was likely to get 112-121, Congress 51-61 and AAP 1-7. Zee News-BARC poll gave the BJP 110-125, 45-60 to the Congress and 1-5 to AAP.
Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 in Numbers:
As per the Election Commission (EC), nearly 3.16 crore voters out of a total of 4.91 crore registered voters had turned up to exercise their franchise in both phases that took place on December 1 and 5 respectively.
Of these 3.16 crore voters, 1.69 crore were males (66.74%), 1.46 crore were females (61.75%) and 445 voters were from the ‘third gender’ category out of 1,391.
Botad district in Saurashtra region registered the lowest voter turnout of 57.59 percent whereas tribal-dominated Narmada district topped with 78.42 percent.
Some of the districts which registered a low turnout are – Amreli (57.60%), Ahmedabad (59.05 %), Porbandar (59.50 %), Junagadh (59.54 %) and Kutch (59.85 %).
Districts, where voters came out in good numbers, are – Tapi (77.04%), Banaskantha (72.49%), Sabarkantha (71.43%), Navsari (71.06%) and Morbi (69.95%), data by the Election Commission said.
A total of 1,621 candidates were in the fray for the elections in Gujarat where the BJP is eyeing a seventh straight term, the Congress looking to improve its tally and AAP attempting to debut in the state where bipolar contests are the hallmarks of elections.
Among the prominent contendors in the Gujarat Assemble elections are Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel who is of the BJP, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, AAP’s CM face Isudan Gadhvi, former BJP minister Parshottam Solanki, Kunwarji Bavaliya, Kantilal Amrutiya, who is called as Morbi “hero”, Rivaba Jadeja from BJP who is wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, and Congress’s Paresh Dhanani.
Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 in Numbers:
As per the Election Commission (EC), nearly 3.16 crore voters out of a total of 4.91 crore registered voters had turned up to exercise their franchise in both phases that took place on December 1 and 5 respectively.
Of these 3.16 crore voters, 1.69 crore were males (66.74%), 1.46 crore were females (61.75%) and 445 voters were from the ‘third gender’ category out of 1,391.
Botad district in Saurashtra region registered the lowest voter turnout of 57.59 per cent whereas tribal-dominated Narmada district topped with 78.42 per cent.
Some of the districts which registered a low turnout are – Amreli (57.60%), Ahmedabad (59.05 %), Porbandar (59.50 %), Junagadh (59.54 %) and Kutch (59.85 %).
Districts, where voters came out in good numbers, are – Tapi (77.04%), Banaskantha (72.49%), Sabarkantha (71.43%), Navsari (71.06%) and Morbi (69.95%), data by the Election Commission said.
A total of 1,621 candidates were in the fray for the elections in Gujarat where the BJP is eyeing a seventh straight term, the Congress looking to improve its tally and AAP attempting to debut in the state where bipolar contests are the hallmarks of elections.
Among the prominent contendors in the Gujarat Assemble elections are Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel who is of the BJP, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, AAP’s CM face Isudan Gadhvi, former BJP minister Parshottam Solanki, Kunwarji Bavaliya, Kantilal Amrutiya, who is called as Morbi “hero”, Rivaba Jadeja from BJP who is wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, and Congress’s Paresh Dhanani.