The AICC in-charge of Gujarat, Raghu Sharma, quits after party's dismal performance.
Gujarat state in-charge Raghu Sharma has resigned after taking full responsibility for the party's disastrous performance in the state assembly election.
Mr. Sharma sent a handwritten letter of resignation to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. In the letter, he stated, "I accept complete moral responsibility for the Congress party's unexpected defeat in the Assembly election. I am resigning from my position as Gujarat in-charge."
"Please accept my resignation as the party in charge," he added.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is heading towards a landslide victory in Gujarat and has so far won 73 seats, while the Congress emerged victorious on six seats as per the results of 85 seats announced till now by the Election Commission on Thursday.
In many Muslim-dominated seats in Gujarat, the ruling party appeared to be winning at the expense of the Congress. The BJP led in 12 of the 17 seats with a high Muslim population-an increase of six seats-compared to just five for the Congress.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel won the Ghatlodia seat for the BJP. Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi won the Majura seat in Surat by a margin of over 1.16 lakh votes. Sitting BJP MLA and former minister Kunvarji Bavaliya won the Jasdan seat.
Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia won in Porbandar by defeating sitting BJP MLA Babu Bokhiria. Sitting Congress MLA Imran Khedawala retained his Jamalpur-Khadia seat. In the Petlad seat of Anand district, Kamlesh Patel of the BJP defeated Prakash Parmar of the Congress by a margin of 17,954 votes.
(With inputs from PTI)