"Actual Manifestation Of Development": Hardeep Puri On Gujarat Win

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that the Gujarat Election Result trends are the actual manifestation of development works done by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"I'm commenting on something which was widely expected. It's the actual manifestation of the kind of development-based work that BJP under the leadership of PM has been undertaking," Union Minister Puri said while commenting on the counting trends after the first few hours.

"It's a model for the whole country," said the Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs, and Petroleum and Natural.

Commenting on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) poll results declared on Wednesday which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won with 134 seats against the BJP's 104 seats, Mr. Puri said, "Our (BJP's) vote share has gone up by 12 per cent while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s vote share has come down.

"Narratives on freebies continue to have an effect on voters and still resonate among some sections...

"I'm absolutely confident about the results in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, and they will serve as a resounding reaffirmation of development-anchored policies and the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Mr. Puri told ANI.

The BJP has won three seats in Gujarat -- Dahod, Mahuva and Petlad and is leading on 151 seats, according to the latest trends on all the 182 seats by the Election Commission till 13.07 pm.

The counting of votes for the Gujarat Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am. The counting was underway at 37 centres in 33 districts.

The BJP, if it manages to win 153 seats in the state, will not only break its own record of winning the highest 127 seats in the 2002 Assembly elections but also break the record of getting the highest number of seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections in 1985 by the Congress' Madhav Singh Solanki government which had won 149 seats.

Assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 respectively. The approximate voter turnout in Gujarat by the end of the second phase was 59.11 per cent.

In the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 per cent.

Counting of votes for six other assembly bypolls, and a Lok Sabha bye-election was also underway alongside for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls held on November 12.

BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years with Prime Minister Modi remaining in the Chief Minister's post for the longest time before becoming the Prime Minister.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)