Gujarat Elections 2022: Congress in-charge of state Raghu Sharma resigns after party's failure in polls

New Delhi: Raghu Sharma, the Gujarat Congress's leader, has resigned following the party's defeat in the Gujarat assembly election in 2022. Trends indicated that the AAP had harmed the party's electoral prospects in the state more than expected. The party's silent campaign appears to have fallen flat with voters. The party concentrated primarily on door-to-door canvassing for votes because its leader, Rahul Gandhi, who had aggressively campaigned in the 2017 elections, chose to stay away to focus on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, as did other senior party leaders. Two key leaders of the Congress party in Gujarat, Paresh Dhanani and Jignesh Mevani, were trailing in their respective constituencies of Amreli and Vadgam. However, Arjun Modhwadia, the party's senior-most leader in the state, was victorious in Porbandar. The Congress was not expected to repeat its commendable performance in the 2017 assembly elections.

 આભાર પોરબંદર 
પોરબંદરના તમામ મતદાતા ભાઈઓ, બહેનો, યુવાનો, વડીલોનો ખુબ ખુબ આભાર, આપ સહુંએ મારા ઉપર વિશ્વાસ રાખી આપના આશીર્વાદ આપ્યા તે માટે હું આપનો ઋણી રહીશ. સાથે જ દિવસ-રાત જોયા વગર મહેનત કરનાર સર્વ કાર્યકર્તાઓ, આગેવાનો, શુભેચ્છકોનો પણ આભાર વ્યક્ત કરું છું. pic.twitter.com/ZjqRXNEspe — Arjun Modhwadia (@arjunmodhwadia) December 8, 2022

The Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on track for a record victory in Gujarat on Thursday, with the ruling party leading in 100 seats and winning another 57 in the 182-member state assembly. The Congress party was expected to finish a distant second, having won six seats and leading in ten others, while the Aam Aadmi Party was leading in five. Others, including independent candidates, were ahead in four seats, according to the Election Commission, as most seats finished counting more than three-fourths of the votes cast in the two-phase elections earlier this month. So far, the BJP has received 53% of the votes cast, while the Congress has received 27% and the AAP has received 13%.

Also Read: Himachal Pradesh Assembly Election Results 2022: Newly-elected Congress MLAs being taken to Jaipur amid ‘POACHING’ fears

If the trends continue, the BJP would not only beat its best showing to date- 127 seats in 2002, but also surpass the all-time record set by the Congress party in 1985, when it won 149 seats under the leadership of late Madhavsinh Solanki. In winning a seventh term, the party would also equal the Left Front's feat in West Bengal. “People of Gujarat have reposed their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leadership once again. If the masses of Gujarat have elected the BJP then we will have to live up to the expectations of the people,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who also was headed for a handsome win from Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad. The BJP has already announced that Patel would lead the next government in the state. The BJP has not lost an election in Gujarat since 1995.

Thursday's big win will be a huge morale boost for the party, said Sanjay Kumar at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. It will enthuse BJP's rank and file, and reinforce the impression that the party will win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kumar said. Although the Modi government is struggling with rising inflation, slowing growth and joblessness, the economic troubles appeared to have had no impact on BJP's popularity in Gujarat. That said, the results of the two-phase elections, held earlier this month, were being watched more for the performance of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), both locked in a battle to grab the status of the main opposition party in the state. 

"જનાદેશને નત મસ્તક"

અમરેલી અને ગુજરાતમા ઐતિહાસીક વિજય
બદલ ભારતીય જનતા પાર્ટીને અભિનંદન,

લોકશાહી સેવાયજ્ઞમા ઊણપ બદલ દિલગીરી
સહ સંધર્ષની રાહે સાથ આપનાર સૌ કાર્યકર્તા
સમર્થક અને શુભેચ્છકોનુ રુણ સ્વીકાર,

છેલ્લા ૨૦ વર્ષ સુધી જનસેવાના અવસર
બદલ અમરવેલીનો અંત:કરણથી આભાર.#આભાર_અમરવેલી

— Paresh Dhanani (@paresh_dhanani) December 8, 2022

Also Read: Gujarat Assembly Election Results 2022: Who is winning, trailing in Ghatlodia, Vadgam, Khambhalia, Jamnagar North, Viramgram and Vaghodia?

It remains to be seen if the AAP's performance in these elections would help its leader Arvind Kejriwal cement his place as a key challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in parliamentary elections due in 2024. For the AAP, which carried out a high-decibel campaign, the elections in Gujarat are also an opportunity to establish itself as a pan-national party. While the contest in Gujarat has traditionally been between the BJP and Congress, it turned three-cornered this time with the entry of the AAP. Several sitting BJP MLAs were among those who were leading. Purnesh Modi, Kanubhai Desai and Hardik Patel were among those leading, besides Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi.