Gujarat rejects racist, casteist politics; votes for development: Vijay Rupani

AHMEDABAD: Reacting to the exit poll results on Thursday giving a clean sweep for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat elections, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said people have rejected the racist and casteist politics of Congress, and voted for development.

“I am expressing thanks to the public for supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party by coming out in large numbers to vote in the elections,” Rupani said.

He said, “The people of Gujarat have supported development and rejected politics of race, caste and creed of Congress.” The saffron party has been power in Gujarat for the past 22 years. 

Rupani also rejected the Congress allegation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has violated the model code of conduct by holding a roadshow after casting his vote on Thursday.

The Congress workers had protested outside the Election Commission office in Delhi on Thursday afternoon, accusing the PM of holding an illegal roadshow, saying he violated the commission's model code of conduct.

BJP's national IT cell head Amit Malviya has also slammed the Congress charges, saying, “It (Congress) is unable to stomach PM Modi's unprecedented popularity.”

All the exit polls on Thursday predicted a clean sweep for BJP in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. The exit polls of VMR, C-voter, News X, India TV and CSDS have forecast BJP to win in the elections. 

Gujarat assembly elections were held in two phases on December 9 and 14. Counting of votes will be held on December 18.

The first phase was held in 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts while in the second phase, the polling was held in 93 constituencies across 14 districts.

The Election Commission said, a total of 66.75% voter turnout was recorded in the first phase and in the second phase, about 69% recorded till 5 pm.

Both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have campaigned hard in high-stakes elections with both sides fielding their top leaders for the polling.

The saffron party had drafted several top leaders including Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Smriti Irani. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and many other top party functionaries of the state and the national level have also campaigned.

The Congress had fielded former prime minister and senior party leader Manmohann Singh, among several high-profile party leaders including Rahul Gandhi, state chief Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Navi Azad, Shachin Pilot, Kamal Nath, Sam Pitroda, Kumari Selja and Alpesh Thakor, among others.

The ruling BJP is attempting for a fifth term in the state while the Congress is seeking a comeback.

The campaigning had seen some intense exchange of words between the two old rival parties. The BJP has blamed the Congress of misgovernance and corruption during its rein while the Gandhi-led party has accused the saffron brigade of lying to people and having “flawed economic policies” like demonitisation and GST, which it said have adversely impacted the poor.