Congress 'sore losers', BJP to return for another term in Gujarat: Amit Malviya

The campaigning had seen intense exchange of words between the two old rival parties.

AHMEDABAD: BJP's national IT cell head Amit Malviya on Thursday exuded confidence as the majority of exit poll results showed the saffron brigade winning the Gujarat elections and said the party will come back to power for another term.

“On 18 Dec, Gujarat would have trusted BJP for the sixth time in a row!” he tweeted.

All exit polls show BJP winning both Himachal and Gujarat. Expect better performance on 18Dec! #BJPWinsGujarat

— Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) December 14, 2017

One state closer to Congress Mukt Bharat... Karnataka is next! #BJPWinsGujarat

— Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) December 14, 2017

Referring to the Congress protest outside the Election Commission office in Delhi over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow, he said, “It (Congress) is unable to stomach PM Modi's unprecedented popularity.

“It is doing what it does best - attack institutions, in this case, the ECI. It was the same EC, Gujarat and Ahmed Patel's election to Rajya Sabha - Congress was all praise for the EC then. Sore losers?” Malviya said.

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 68% 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 Manmohan Singh, among several high-profile party leaders including Rahul Gandhi, state chief Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Navi Azad, Sachin Pilot, Kamal Nath, Sam Pitroda, Kumari Selja and Alpesh Thakor, among others.

The ruling BJP is attempting for a fifth term in a row 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.