The BJP was set to achieve its best-ever mandate in the Indian state of Gujarat's legislative assembly elections on Thursday. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party had already won 35 seats in his home state by late in the afternoon, it was reporting a lead in 121 other seats.
If the BJP does manage to claim victories in the races for 150 seats, Gujarat's incumbent party will break Congress' previous record of winning 149 constituencies in the assembly polls in 1985.
The BJP's impending monster triumph in Gujarat can be understood from the fact that the party's vote share in the state has further increased by at least 4 percent in this poll.
In 2017, the BJP secured 49.1 percent votes in the state, winning a simple majority with 99 seats. On the other hand, the main opposition party, Congress, was at 41.4 percent, bagging wins in 77 constituencies.
But this time round, the Congress' vote share suffered a huge dip as it dropped to 27 percent from more than 41 percent in 2017 and that's perhaps the reason it is only in a position to win 17 seats in the state right now.
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, which campaigned vigorously to make the fight three-cornered, seem to have fallen flat in Gujarat as it is only leading on 5 seats at present. Notably, Kejriwal had predicted 90-plus seats for his party in the state. But all his tall claims seemed to have fallen flat.
In more embarrassment for AAP, its candidate for the state chief's position Isudan Gadhvi is currently trailing the BJP's Ayar Mulubhai Hardasbhai Bera by nearly 20,000 votes in the Khambhalia constituency.
But the AAP still has something to cheer about its performance in the western coastal state. The party is set to open its account in the Gujarat legislature with its five candidates leading till afternoon: "Aam Aadmi Party is becoming a national party today with the votes of the people of Gujarat," AAP No.2 and Delhi State Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia tweeted.
Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP was expected to suffer a massive jolt as the Congress took a sizable lead in the hill state - 26 to 39 and was heading to form its government there.
Himachal has alternated between the BJP and Congress since 1985 and looking at the current trends, it appears that the former may fail to buck the trend. The only big solace for the BJP in Himachal Pradesh is that its outgoing State Chief Jairam Thakur has won from his traditional Seraj seat by a margin of more than 20,000 votes.