Wishesh magazine january 2018 Wishesh magazine january 2018 | Page 94

INFOCUS
Assembly polls in the western
state.
Different
pockets of
Gujarat voted
differently in
the election
but the overall
vote share of
the BJP has
increase
surge in performance.
94
Despite these improvements,
it was not enough to unseat
the BJP. That being said, the
overall Congress vote share
also went up to 41.4 percent,
a two percent increase since
2012.
The 77-seat tally this time
is the highest for Congress
since 1995, when it had won
45 seats. The party clinched
53 seats in 1998, 51 in 2002
and 59 in 2007.
Another salient point to
notice is that the difference in
vote share between the two
parties, which works out to be
around 7.7 percent in 2017.
This figure works in line with
the trend of a shrinking gap
witnessed since the 2007
WWW.WISHESH.COM | JANUARY 2018
In 2007, BJP’s vote share
was 49.12 percent against
39.63 percent for Congress,
making the gap amount to
9.49 percent. This gap further
reduced to 9 percent in 2012
and this year’s performance
comes as a significant leap in
favour of the Congress.
HOW GUJARAT VOTED
IN 2017 ELECTION:
1- In the 50-seat north Gujarat
region, the BJP had won
over 50 per cent vote share.
It improved the vote share in
north Gujarat by 1 per cent.
The Congress also improved
its vote share by 2 per cent to
poll 42 per cent votes. Others
suffered a loss of 4 per cent.
2- In terms of number of
seats, the BJP maintained
its sway in the north Gujarat
by winning the same number
of seats as 2012 Assembly
election. But, so did the
Congress. Both secured
the same tally with BJP
winning 32 and the Congress
pocketing 21
3- In Saurashtra and Kutch,
the BJP has suffered major
loss over 2012 Gujarat
Assembly election. In 2012,
the BJP had won 35 of 54
seats while this election, it
could win only 23 seats. The
Congress is clear winner in
Saurashtra and Kutch with 30
seats. It had won 16 seats in
2012 in the region
4- The BJP has faced
marginal loss in south Gujarat
which includes business hub
of Surat. The BJP won 25
of 35 seats in south Gujarat
compared to 28 won in 2012.
The Congress improved its
tally from 6 to 10. The others