This is evident from the fact that BJP candidates have won in the constituencies with a sizable Muslim population indicating that there was no division of the votes on religious lines in the elections
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
AHMEDABAD – Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) has registered a landslide victory in the Gujarat assembly elections, result of which has been declared on Thursday. The saffron party came to power in the state for the seventh consecutive term. However, what’s intriguing about the just concluded state elections is that the BJP candidates have won in the constituencies with a sizable Muslim population even though there was no division of the minority votes in the elections.
A careful analysis of ten such constituencies shows that the BJP was not only able to win seats but also gross more votes for its candidate than the combined votes of the first and the second runner-up, namely the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
These 10 constituencies have a population of Muslims between 25-50 per cent. The BJP has registered its victory in eight of the ten constituencies. On some of the seats, the party won by a high margin. Limbayat, Vejalpur, Bharuch, Godhra and Bhuj are the majority-dominant constituencies where the BJP won by a high margin. There are only two seats where the Congress has registered to win.
| Muslim-Dominated Constituency | Winner (Votes) | Runner | Third Position |
| Dariapur | BJP’s Sukhlal Jain (61090 ) | Congress’s Ghyasuddin (55847) | AAP (4164) |
| Limbayat | BJP’s Rajendra Patel (94202) | AAP’s Pankaj Bhai Patel (37417) | Congress (29349) |
| Bapunagar | BJP’s Dineshsinh (59133) | Congress’s Himmatsinh (47066) | AAP (6384) |
| Vejalpur | BJP’s Amit Thaker (127093) | Congress Rajendra Patel (68062) | AAP (21879) |
| Surat east | BJP’s Arvind Rana (73014) | Congress’s Aslam (59125)) | AIMIM (1671) |
| Jamalpur | Congress’s Imran (58235) | BJP’s Bhushan Bhatt (44649) | AIMIM’s Sabir Kabliwalah (15655) |
| Bharuch | BJP’s Ramesh Mistry (108181) | Congress’s Jayakant (44087) | AAP (14309) |
| Godhra | BJP’s Raul Ji (95561) | Congress’s Rashmita (60599) | AAP (11200) |
| Bhuj | BJP’s Keshubhai (96582) | Congress’ Arjan (36495) | AIMIM (31249) |
| Vadgam | Congress’s Jignesh (93848) | BJP’s Manibhai (89052) | AAP |
The BJP’s victory in such constituencies can be ascribed to the polarisation of Hindu votes in favour of the Hindutva party candidates. It appears that the split of minority votes is not the reason behind BJP’s victory.
There are as many as 19 assembly seats which have significant Muslim voters. Of these, the BJP has registered victory in 17 seats.
On Thursday, the BJP registered a phenomenal victory in Gujarat, which is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with an all-time high score breaking the Congress’ 1985 record. The party won 160 out of 180 seats decimating Congress to a poor second position while the AAP, which joined the Gujarat fray for the first time, failed to make any breakthrough in the state.
