India's Modi declares victory in closely fought Gujarat polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declares victory in two state elections, including his bastion of Gujarat, where a combined opposition led by the Congress party offered a tough contest.

Supporters of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrate outside the party headquarters in New Delhi on December 18, 2017.
AFP

Supporters of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrate outside the party headquarters in New Delhi on December 18, 2017.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory on Monday in two state elections, including a closely fought race in his stronghold of Gujarat where the leader fronted the campaign.

Modi thanked voters in Gujarat, his home state in India's west, and the northern Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh, for backing the ruling Hindu right-wing party in the local polls.

"I bow to the people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh for their affection and trust in BJP," Modi posted on his official Twitter account, using the initials of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"I assure them that we will leave no stone unturned in furthering the development journey of these states and serve the people tirelessly."

Official results will be declared later on Monday. 

Opposition Indian National Congress (INC) leader Rahul Gandhi conceded defeat in both states. 

The BJP was on track to win 99 seats in the 182-seat Gujarat parliament as of 1015 GMT as counting continued, the Election Commission of India said.

That result returns the BJP to power for a sixth consecutive term in the bellwether state, but cuts its majority from 115 seats in the last election.

The ruling party was also poised to wrest control of Himachal Pradesh from Congress, which recently elected Rahul Gandhi unopposed as its new leader to replace his mother Sonia Gandhi.

A combined opposition led by the Congress had mounted a tough challenge in the western state of Gujarat, hoping to weaken Modi in his home base by exploiting discontent over lack of jobs and an unpopular national sales tax that hit business.

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Modi faces a national election in 2019. He also has the ongoing state elections, which will be followed by a couple more next year – key contests where the opposition aims to slow down his momentum.

Businesses across India have been struggling with the poor implementation of a Goods and Services Tax that aims to harmonise an array of state and federal taxes but entangled them in cumbersome procedures.

Modi's shock ban of high-value currency notes last November, in his fight against corruption, also disrupted small business which forms the bedrock of his support base in Gujarat.

Tough election

"It was a tough election, the toughest we have fought," said R Bala, BJP member.

The campaigning in Gujarat was marked by some of the sharpest verbal duels in any recent Indian election, with Modi implying at one point, without presenting any evidence, that the Congress party may have been conniving with rival Pakistan to impact the Gujarat election. 

It was angrily denied by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Congress party leader.

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