Ahmedabad/Kolkata: Gujarat assembly polls, 2017 has been a nerve breaking one ever since the voting date was announced and election code of conduct was implemented. The political importance of this year’s assembly election was so much that when voting dates were not announced along with Himachal Pradesh as scheduled, then the election commission had to face criticism. And when the date was announced, then the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), even delayed the winter session of the Parliament, to keep campaigning and insure win.
Now, that the verdict has been declared, it clearly shows the fight indeed was neck-and-neck, for both BJP and Congress. Despite Gujarat being the home state of both Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and party’s National President Amit Shah, ruling party could not cross the 100 mark, for the 182 assembly seats.
However, four districts, out of the 33—Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara got almost half seats for BJP. Ahmedabad has 21, BJP won 16, Vadodara 9 out of 10 and Rajkot 6 out of 8.
In fact, out of 16, BJP won 15 seats from India’s textile industry hub Surat. Such large number of seats from Surat comes as a surprise as there was a massive protest in the city, when the industry was taxed under Goods and Services Tax (GST). Congress during its election campaign had termed GST as Gabbar Singh Tax and it had even been widely shared on the social media, both in and outside the state.
Surat and three other districts helped BJP to retain power in Gujarat. Whereas in rural Gujarat, which has 127 seats, Congress won 71 seats and BJP could get a majority in only 56.
Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai also tweeted the same that how urban Gujarat saved the day for saffron brigade in its citadel.
“Fifty five seats of urban Gujarat: BJP 43, Cong 12; 127 rural seats: BJP 56, Cong 71. That is the story of #GujaratVerdict . A mirror cracked is the best way to describe it,” Rajdeep tweeted.
More than caste, development or national politics, the urban-rural divide mattered the most deciding the government, in this much hyped Gujarat election.
