2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election

2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election

← 2012 9 and 14 December 2017 2022 →
All 182 seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly 92 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	69.01% (3.01%)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Vijay Rupani Bharatsinh Solanki Party BJP INC Leader since 2016 2015 Leader's seat Rajkot West Did not contest Last election 115 61 Seats before 115 61 Seats won 99 77 Seat change 16 16 Popular vote 14,724,427 12,438,937 Percentage 49.05% 41.44% Swing 1.15% 2.57%
Election result map
Chief Minister before election Vijay Rupani BJP Chief Minister Vijay Rupani BJP

The 14th Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2017 was held on 9 December 2017 and 14 December 2017. The votes were counted on 18 December. All 182 members of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly were elected with the leader of the largest party or coalition expected to become the next Chief Minister.^[1] The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party obtained a simple majority with an increase in the vote share. Despite suffering a decrease in the number of seats, the incumbent government retained its simple majority in the house. The vote share and number of seats for Congress increased from the previous election in 2012. This was the highest number of seats won by Congress in the last 32 years (after the 1985 election, in which Congress won 149 seats). The next election will be in December 2022.

Gujarat in India

Background[]

Gujarat, like the other states of India, follows parliamentary system of government. The government is responsible for the Legislative Assembly and stays in power only if it has the support of a majority of its members. Elections take place on a first-past-the-post basis: the candidate with the most votes wins the seat regardless of an absolute majority. Every citizen of the state who is 18 and above is eligible to vote. The Governors of States of India then invites the leader of the largest party or coalition to form the government. The Constitution of India states that the term of Legislative Assemblies is five years. As is common in most other first-past-the-post electoral systems, the state's politics are dominated by two parties – the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The term of the prior Gujarat Legislative Assembly ended on 22 January 2018. The previous assembly election, held in 2012, resulted in BJP gaining a majority of seats and Narendra Modi becoming the Chief Minister. After the 2014 General Elections, Modi became the Prime Minister of the country and Anandiben Patel was appointed the Chief Minister of Gujarat. After the agitations of Patidars, Dalit protests and claims of poor governance, she was replaced by Vijay Rupani as the Chief Minister by the party.

Electoral process changes[]

VVPAT-fitted EVMs were used in the entire Gujarat state at 50,128 polling stations in the 2017 elections, which was the first time that the entire state saw the implementation of VVPAT.^[2] VVPAT slips were counted in a polling station in each of Gujarat's 182 constituencies.^[3][4] There were 43.3 million registered voters in Gujarat as of September 25, 2017.^[5]

Demographics[]

Other Backward Castes, excluding Muslim OBCs, comprised 48% of the total population of Gujarat.^[6][7][8] 147 communities were considered to be OBCs at the time of the election.^[9] Scheduled tribes (primarily Adivasis) comprised 15.5% of the population, while scheduled castes (Dalits) totalled 7%.^[10][11] Muslims of various castes constituted 9.7% of the population.^[12] Forward castes and others made up the remainder.

Opinion polls[]

Election schedule

Exit Polls[]

Results[]

The votes were counted on 18 December 2017. Over 1.9% of all voters in the election specified the None of the Above (NOTA) option, which amounted to more than 500,000 votes.^[20]

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	14,724,427	49.1	1.2	99	16
	Indian National Congress (INC)	12,438,937	41.4	2.5	77	16
	Independents (IND)	1,290,278	4.3	1.5	3	2
	Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP)	222,694	0.7	0.7	2	2
	Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)	207,007	0.7	0.6	0
	Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)	184,815	0.6	0.4	1	1
	All India Hindustan Congress Party (AIHCP)	83,922	0.3	0.3	0
	Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (Secular) (RSPS)	45,833	0.2	0.2	0
	Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)	24,918	0.1	0.1	0
	Janata Dal (United) (JDU)				0	1
	None of the Above (NOTA)	551,615	1.8	1.8	N/A
Total		30,015,920	100.00		182	±0
Valid votes		30,015,920	99.87
Invalid votes		37,706	0.13
Votes cast / turnout		30,053,626	69.01
Abstentions		13,493,330	30.99
Registered voters		43,546,956

Results by constituency[]

By-Elections[]

2019[]

2020[]

In March 2020, five Congress MLAs from Gujarat resigned, bringing its tally down to 68. Three more resigned in June 2020, making it 65.^[21] The BJP subsequently won all eight seats in November by-elections with absolute majorities of the vote.^[22]

2021[]

References[]

External links[]

• Election Commission of India
• Gujarat Legislative Assembly, Official website