Assembly election results 2017: Nitish Kumar congratulates PM Modi, takes a dig at Congress

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for victories in Gujarat and Himachal Assembly elections.

At the same time, he also took a dig at the grand old party. "Congress was claiming to win Gujarat. However, it lost Himachal also."

गुजरात एवं हिमाचल प्रदेश विधान सभा चुनाव में जीत के लिए माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी एवं भारतीय जनता पार्टी को बधाई | गुजरात में जीत का दावा करने वाली कांग्रेस हिमांचल भी हार गयी!@narendramodi — Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) December 18, 2017

Yesterday, Nitish had said that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) have helped making elections "transparent and impartial" and those criticising them were doing so out of the fear of defeat.

हार के डर से चुनाव में ईवीएम की आलोचना जो कर लें लेकिन ईवीएम के प्रयोग से चुनाव पारदर्शी और निष्पक्ष हुआ है। अब मतदान के अधिकार से कोई किसी को वंचित नहीं कर सकता है।

— Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) December 17, 2017

Kumar's observations had come in the backdrop of allegations of EVM tampering in Gujarat to favour the BJP.

"Some may criticise the EVMs out of fear of defeat, but the EVMs have made elections transparent and impartial. Now, nobody can deprive anybody of the right to cast votes," Kumar had tweeted in Hindi.

The BJP, which has been in power in PM Modi's home state uninterruptedly since 1998, last time had won 115 seats while the Congress had 61.

The elections for the 182-seat Assembly were held on December 9 and 14, after an acrimonious campaign, which was dominated by a face-off between PM Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

During the campaign, PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah had trained guns on the Congress on issues like Ram Temple, alleged Pakistani interference in the Gujarat polls and (suspended Congress leader) Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks.

On the other hand, Rahul had persistently attacked PM Modi and the BJP for "not talking about the future of Gujarat" and skipping key issues being faced by the people of the state.

The BJP has won every election since 1995 in the home state of PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. However, it was out of power for a couple of years due to party infighting and rebellion by Shankersinh Vaghela.

The saffron party came back to power in 1998, and has ruled uninterrupted since then. 

(With Agency inputs)