Parties cautious in Gujarat, for fear of bad impact on poll arithmetic
Gandhinagar: In the last five assembly elections held on 182 seats for power in Gujarat (Gujarat), the Congress (Congress) has faced continuous defeat. Statistics of the Central Election Commission show that NOTA, Independents and other parties spoil the electoral arithmetic of Gujarat. Congress has lost three out of five assembly elections by the same number of votes as independents, other national parties and local parties of Gujarat.
As per the data, in the elections of 2012, 2007 and 1998, the margin of victory and defeat between BJP and Congress was 22,44,812, 24,30,523 and 16,23,440 votes. In comparison, independents, other national and local parties got 25,46,503, 25,61,457, 33,10,046 votes.
5.51 lakh people pressed NOTA in 2017
According to the commission, 5,51,594 people had pressed the NOTA button in the 2017 assembly elections. While Independents, other national parties and local parties got a total of 17,79,838 votes. All these votes together make a total of 23,31,432 votes. On the other hand, Congress lost in this election by 22,86,370 votes. It is clear that independents, other parties and NOTA got 45,062 more votes than the number of votes Congress lost.
This party is at the forefront of spoiling the vote count
Talking about the last five assembly elections in Gujarat, BSP, CPI, CPM and NCP were at the forefront in cutting votes. Similarly, local parties included parties like JDS, JDU, SHS and SP. In the 2017 elections, the BSP fielded 139 candidates. The party got a total of 2,06,768 votes but not a single candidate could win. In the 2002 elections, 81 candidates of NCP got 3,49,021 votes but no one was able to win.
AIRJP spoiled the vote count of Congress
In the 1998 elections, the BJP became the single largest party with 73,00,826 votes. Congress was the second largest party with 56,77,386 votes. Congress was defeated in this election by 16,23,440 votes. On the other hand, the All India Rashtriya Janata Party (AIRJP), a local party alone, got a total of 19,02,171 votes. AIRJP fielded a total of 168 candidates. Out of this only four could win while 114 had forfeited their deposits.
Margin of defeat increased in two elections
As per the data, the Congress got an average of 21,49,278 less votes in the last five elections. If the defeat of the Congress is understood in terms of vote percentage, then it got 8.06 percent less votes than the BJP in the 2017 elections. Similarly, the difference in vote percentage in 1998 and 2012 elections was between eight to nine per cent. The 2002 and 2007 elections were the only times when the Congress lost the elections to the BJP by a large margin of ten to eleven per cent votes.
