Did Kejriwal’s AAP really penetrate BJP’s fort in Gujarat? The numbers tell a different story

New Delhi Dec 09: On December 8, the results of the Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 were announced and and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recorded a historic win. It won 156 of the 182 seats breaking all previous records while recording a vote share of 52.5 per cent.

According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP got a total of 1,67,07,957 votes combined on all seats. In the 2017 elections, the BJP secured 99 seats which is 57 seats lesser than the 2022 elections. Moreover the BJP's vote share also increased by 3.45 per cent. In all the seats combined, the BJP had got 1,47,24,031 votes.

The Congress on the other hand has a reduced number of seats. It won 17 this year when compared to 77 in 2017. The Congress got 1,24,37,661 votes with a vote share of 41.44 per cent. This year the party managed to bag just 86,83,966 votes with a vote share of just 27.3 per cent.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested in all seats except Surat (East) as its candidate withdrew from there. The party got 41,12,055 with a vote share of 12.9 per cent while it ended up winning just 5 seats-Dediyapada, Gariadhar, Botad, Jamjodhpur and Visavadar.

In a statement, AAP chief, Arvind Kejriwal said that Gujarat is BJP's stronghold and we have penetrated their fort. Going by Kejriwal's statements, it appears as though the AAP ate into the BJP's vote share. OpIndia (https://www.opindia.com/2022/12/did-aap-break-into-bjp-vote-share-a-detailed-analysis-of-gujarat-elections/) did a detailed analysis of Gujarat's 2022 and 2017 election results and found that what Kejriwal was saying is not correct. The party lost deposit in 126 seats while it saved it in only 55 seats.

Dedipada:

In Dedipada the AAP won, 1,03,422 votes while the BJP got 63,151 while the Congress ended up with 12,587. In 2017, the BJP got 61,275, BTP, 83,026. This year the BTP managed just got 2,991. Looking at this it is clear that the AAP got the votes of the BTP and the BJP on the other hand gained nearly 2,000 votes on this seat.

Gariadhar:

In Gariadhar, the AAP bagged 60,944, BJP, 56,125 and the Congress got 15,099 votes. In the 2017 elections, the BJP bagged 50,635 seats and the Congress got 48,759. In this seat in 2022, the BJP has gained 5,500 votes while the Congress lost 33,000 votes. Hence the AAP clearly benefited from the Congress.

Botad:

The AAP in Botad won 80,581 votes while the BJP got 77,802 and the Congress 19,508. In 2017 the Congress bagged 19,058. In 2017 the BJP had won 79,623 votes and the Congress 78,717. In this seat the votes of the BJP reduced by a few thousands while the Congress lost heavily on its votes. Hence here too one can clearly say that Kejriwal's AAP did not penetrate any fort.

Jamjodhpur:

In Jamjodhpur, AAP got 71,397 votes, BJP got 60,994 while the Congress ended up with 13,154. In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 61,694 and the Congress ended up with 64,212. This shows that the BJP won 700 more seats compared to 2017 and the Congress lost over 50,000 votes.

Visavadar:

In the Visavadar seat, the AAP got 66,210 votes when compared to 59,167 bagged by the BJP. The Congress ended up with 16,963 votes. In 2017 the BJP had won 58,781 while the Congress bagged 81,882 votes. The Congress here lost over 60,000 votes while the BJP's votes increased by over 300.