New Delhi: A day after elections were announced to the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat state assembles, both the Congress and the BJP on Thursday exuded confidence and said they were sure of victory. While Himachal will go to polls on Nov 4, Gujarat will vote on Dec 13 and 17. Results will be out on Dec 20. Both the states are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress is desperate to dislodge it.
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told IANS: "We are winning both the states, on the basis of our performance, with increased margins." The Congress said it has "a fairly good chance of winning" in Gujarat where Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who took office in 2001, is seeking a third term in a row. "Our expectations have doubled in Gujarat. People are not happy with the Modi government, which is facing serious anti-incumbency this time. That is why he is attacking Sonia Gandhi," Congress spokesperson P C Chacko told IANS.
The Gujarat outcome is widely tipped to have an impact on the political future of Modi and the BJP with the next Lok Sabha election due in 2014. Modi's supporters say he would be a strong contender for the party's prime ministerial candidate if he leads the BJP to power for a third time in a row. A defeat will be a setback both for the BJP and Modi, puncturing his claim to national leadership.
Chacko said the Congress had learnt lessons from the past mistakes and would win in Himachal Pradesh as it was "united". "Himachal has been a strong state for us. We made some mistakes in the last election. But we are united this time," Chacko told IANS.
As many as 37.8 million voters would be eligible to pick a 182-member house in Gujarat. Himachal Pradesh has a 68-member assembly and 4.5 million voters. These will be the most important state elections since Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, voted in February-March this year, along with Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur.
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