Counting of votes will be held on Monday for the Gujarat Assembly polls, considered a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state and a litmus test for new Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
While the BJP is seeking a sixth straight term in office, the Congress is aiming to stage a comeback in power after being in the opposition for over two decades.
The results are expected to have a bearing on the 2019 parliamentary polls also as Modi had come to power in 2014, based on the Gujarat 'model of development'.
The much-awaited results of the keenly fought elections will be announced on Monday when the counting of votes will be held at 37 centres across the state's 33 districts, amid tight security.
The voting was held following an acrimonious campaign, where both the main political parties indulged in no-holds-barred attacks on each others.
Modi led the campaign for the BJP, while Rahul Gandhi was the pivot of the Congress' electioneering.
During the campaign, Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah trained guns on the Congress on issues like the Ram Temple, alleged Pakistani interference in the Gujarat polls and (suspended Congress leader) Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks.
Gandhi persistently attacked Modi and the BJP for "not talking about the future of Gujarat" and skipping key issues being faced by the people of the state.
The Congress also stitched about a broad social coalition with prominent Patidar, OBC, and dalit leaders—Hardik Patel, Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani—in its bid to unseat the BJP in power after over two decades.
Patel led a long agitation of his community for reservation, while Thakor led a counter-protest against inclusion of Patidars in the OBC reservation list. Mevani raised his voice against dalit atrocities.
The influential Patidar community, which accounts for around 12 per cent of the state's population, could prove to be the 'X factor' in the polls in which Patel pledged support to the Congress and appealed to people to 'uproot' the BJP' this time.
As the campaign was nearing its end, vikas (development) took a backseat, and caste and religious issues received prominence.
The two main rival parties also tried to counter each other on social media, as the Congress and its supporters launched the campaign Vikas Gando Thayo Che (development has gone crazy), while the BJP launched a counter-drive of "I am development, I am Gujarat."
An average 68.41 per cent polling was recorded in the two-phase Assembly elections in Gujarat.
According to the final figures released by the Election Commission, the voter turnout in the second phase of balloting on December 14 for 93 seats of North and Central Gujarat, stood at 69.99 per cent.
In the first phase of polls held on December 9 for 89 seats in Saurasthra, Kutch and South Gujarat, 66.75 per cent voting was recorded.
The total voter turnout this time has seen a dip of 2.91 per cent, as compared with the 2012 polls when 71.32 per cent polling was registered.
In terms of numbers, of the total 4.35 crore registered voters, 2.97 crore exercised their right to franchise in the elections held on December 9 and 14.
According to the EC data, the tribal-dominated Narmada district witnessed the highest voter turnout of 79.15 per cent, while Devbhumi-Dwarka of Saurashtra region recorded the lowest at 59.39 per cent.
The districts which recorded a high turnout are Tapi (78.56 per cent), Banaskantha (75.15) and Sabarkantha (74.97). The districts which saw a low turnout are Amreli (61.29), Bhavnagar (61.56) and Porbandar (61.86).
Out of the total 33 districts, 15 recorded over 70 per cent polling, while 17 others clocked between 60 per cent and 70 per cent.
Only Devbhumi Dwarka district registered polling below 60 per cent.
Both sides remain confident in HP
The fate of 337 candidates including Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his predecessor Prem Kumar Dhumal will be known on Monday as counting of votes is taken up in Himachal Pradesh where traditional rivals BJP and Congress have contested all 68 seats.
The hill state witnessed a record 75.28 per cent turnout and pollsters have predicted a BJP victory.
Adequate security arrangements have been made for counting, which would start simultaneously in all 68 constituencies at 42 counting centres.
Corruption was the main focus of the BJP campaign, with the party training its guns at Singh, while the Congress hit out at the BJP over the issues of GST and demonetisation.
The BSP contested 42 seats, followed by the CPI(M) with 14 seats, the Swabhiman Party and the Lok Gathbandhan Party six each and the CPI three seats.
Out of 67 sitting MLAs, 60 MLAS, nine cabinet ministers, HPCC president Sukhvinder Singh Sukkhu, state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti, Deputy Speaker Jagat Singh Negi and eight Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) contested the poll along with a dozen former ministers.
HP has a tradition of change in government after every election and going by the trend, this time it is the turn of the BJP, which is upbeat after exit poll results.
There are 25 Congress, 28 BJP and four independent MLAs in the outgoing house while one seat was lying vacant after death of former minister Karan Singh from Banjar.
Sitting Rajya Sabha member Viplov Thakur (Congress), former Lok Sabha members Chander Kumar (Congress) and Dr Rajan Shushant (Independent) and former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar (BJP) are also among key contestants.
While the BJP is confident of winning the polls with a comfortable majority, the Congress has rejected the exit polls and claimed that it was all set to repeat its stint in power.
The BJP ousted the Congress in 1990 and the Congress avenged the defeat in 1993. The BJP formed the government with the help of Himachal Vikas Congress in 1998 and the Congress was back in power in 2003. The BJP made a comeback in 2007.
2,820 counting staff has been deployed for Monday's exercise, which includes counting supervisors, counting assistants and micro-observers.
Chief Electoral Officer Pushpender Rajput said three-tier security arrangements have been made at all counting centres.
He said wire mesh barricading has been done at counting centres and there was a separate entry passage for counting staff and counting agents.
Videography and CCTV coverage will be done in all counting centres.
