Gujarat polls: Why were early trends between BJP, Congress, so close

As trends started to flow in for the Gujarat assembly elections, the fight was an extremely close one. At around 9 am, the Congress was in fact ahead of the BJP, but that trend reversed in the next half an hour.

As of now, it is clear that the BJP has managed to retain Gujarat. The question is how did the fight get so close.

As counting began, the BJP was trailing in several seats that it had won in 2012. It was clear that the Congress was seen retaining its hold in the rural areas.

The Saurashtra-Kutch region was also crucial. Early trends even showed Chief Minister Vijay Rupani trailing from the Rajkot West constituency. In the previous elections, the BJP had won 35 and the Congress 16 from this region.

This time around the two parties was neck and neck in this region. This indicates that the Patidar factor had worked for the Congress in this region, this time.

The Congress also made certain gains in Surat and the areas around. The BJP had won 28 out of the 35 seats from this region last time. However, the fight was closer this time around. It is clear that there was some amount of anger in this region owing to GST and demonetisation.

Both parties have however been hit by the local leaders. The Congress did not have a local face. For the BJP, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi all the way. Both his successors Vijay Rupani and Anandiben Patel failed to draw many crowds during their respective campaigns.

OneIndia News